


Scott Free

by seriousfic



Category: DCU
Genre: F/M, Screenplay/Script Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-25
Updated: 2014-01-15
Packaged: 2017-12-03 15:35:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 32,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/699821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seriousfic/pseuds/seriousfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On a distant and tyrannical world, a warrior goes rogue after suffering a loss, recruiting an escape artist slave to help her turn the tables on the empire she's served all her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

EXT. SPACE – TIMELESS

 

An endless field of stars. Quiet. Peaceful. A comet STREAKS through frame and a voice speaks—deep, husky, rasping, and female.

 

BARDA: (V.O.) The first world ended in fire.

 

One by one, the stars explode like tiny fireworks. Each little dot of light just expands in a little circular burst and is gone. We actually see the star nearest to us go SUPERNOVA, the tiny firework now a vast WALL OF FLAME that wipes across the screen.

 

Darkness. Then, stars reform out of cosmic dust. One is born practically right next to us. It shines warmly.

 

BARDA: (V.O.) The second world ended in ice.

 

The stars in the background now expand, pebbles dropped in a pond, their color lingering dully. The one nearest to us goes last. It turns into a red giant, then bursts like a squeezed grape, its matter forming into a nebula that now FREEZES like the rest of the galaxy. A CRACK goes right through frame.

 

And in the center of the screen, a FLASH of LIGHT. The ice melts. New stars form from the cosmic puddle. The first light continues shining. RACK-FOCUS to it, as Barda intones…

 

BARDA: (V.O.) The third world ended in heroes.

 

And now we are at the light, a kingdom, a palace the size of a star system, every minaret and tower shining. But, as millennia pass in eye-blinks (as we've realized is happening), the first city is tarnished and dimmed, until we see the source of the corruption. The forces of darkness swarm in like locusts and time helpfully slows for us to take in the combat.

 

Every god, every goddess, every legend or myth or fairy tale IS AT WAR. We see only provocative glimpses—Apollo is snuffed out, Artemis is beheaded, Loki rides the Midgard Serpent (laughing), and Kali has her day. The dark gods—a thousand religions' demons, a million nightmares—spread like an oil spill.

 

BARDA: (V.O.) The forces of evil sought the ultimate weapon, one that would not only win every fight, but remove the fighting spirit itself from the enemy. With this weapon, the universe would forever fall into darkness. Rather than spend an eternity as slaves, the old gods chose to die free. (beat) _Fools._

 

At the top of a tower that dwarfs every other structures, the supreme deity of each pantheon joins hands. They are bloody and bruised and so very tired. The most familiar, an old bearded man whose PRESENCE instantly moves us, closes his eyes.

 

THE PRESENCE: Forgive us.

 

And they are gone. Everything is just gone. The stars—cold and silent—shine on. Some die, others bleed, more are born. And now we see them SNUFFED OUT. Something—black and mammoth—is passing before them, blotting them from view.

 

BARDA: (V.O.) The home of the old gods was torn asunder—split in great halves. (her voice turns mocking, BITTER) On one side of the universe, moving in serenity, dedicated to peace and WEAKNESS, sunlit New Genesis. And across the cosmos, deep in the shadows, lies Apokolips, home of order and control, lit only by the mammoth fire-pits in which strength is forged. A place of stark temples, where creatures of fury worship destruction. (beat) Between them, chaos reigned.

 

Our camera tracks the mysterious SHAPES to see them descending on a vast blue-green WORLD, passing in front of its amber SUN. They're WARSHIPS, jagged black teeth sinking into this planet.

 

EXT. SAVANNAH – DAY

 

SUPER: New Genesis

 

A quick impression of harmony and peace—sweeping grasslands, a city of majestic splendor that appears to co-exist with the natural order. Then an Apokoliptian warship, or FANG-SHIP, lands. It penetrates into this alien world's crust, and now, from its porous black rock, a horde of locusts emerge. Locusts the size of gorillas.

 

PARADEMONS—Apokolips' winged shock-troops. The flavor of the old gods' demons, but genetically processed and grown into functional armor that cuts into their own flesh, regulating their growth. They join other SWARMS as we pan away, now seeing other cities beset by other armies, FIRES raging out of control. The End.

 

BARDA: (V.O.) On the word of our master, our general, our god, we seek out the scattered remnant of the weapon our forebears so nearly possessed. We spread the gospel of Great Darkseid. We do not rest, we do not tire, we do not tarry. We will take hold of the Equation and at long last bring order to this Fourth World. This… last… world.

 

As she speaks, we zoom in on a city in the clouds, attacked from all sides by Parademons like flies around a rotting carcass. Energy blasts, like WW2 AA fire, wipe them out en masse, but ten replace every creature downed. As we get closer, we see the blasts are coming from PEOPLE. Eyebeams, breathed fire, power-rays from their hands. This is a war of the superheroes.

 

INT. CITADEL – DAY

 

The highest point in the city, a skyscraper built out of a palace and both of them crossbred with a temple. Inside something much like an observation deck, the defense effort is coordinated. We don't notice that yet. We notice the refugees lining the walls, huddled in corners. Even here, at the highest level of government, they're crammed in. A GENERAL hands over a canteen full of water to some thirsty aliens as he brings in the latest report.

 

GENERAL: Sire, some of their invasion force is still moving into range. We can use the nova bombs against them without our city being caught in the blast.

 

The leader, HIGHFATHER, is bent over a map of his forces in white, and the enemy's in black. The lines have broken. The two are mixed together like a mosaic yin-yang symbol. The man's craggy face and full white beard marks him as a throwback to the Third World, a specimen of warmth and wisdom from a bygone age.

 

HIGHFATHER: The radiation will still scar our world. Remember, at the start, when we would not use nova bombs on even uninhabited planets, for fear of the harm they'd bring to what life _might_ come in a thousand generations? How did it come to this?

 

GENERAL: (one-track mind) Their Parademons outnumber us a hundred to one. Our forces cannot hold!

 

HIGHFATHER: We trained our children to fear death, and thus fight for life. But these Apokoliptians don't care if they live or die. What is the courage of a few against the indifference against so many?

 

A deep voice comes, ragged and PAINFUL. 

 

DARKSEID: (O.S.) Nothing.

 

A wall explodes inward, preceded by the vague impression of a giant fist. Everyone watches in stunned, cowed silence as the dust settles. Revealing a mammoth bulk, swathed in dark robes. Not an inch is uncovered. As it—HE--stops inside, his shadow falls over all. Highfather last.

 

DARKSEID: It has always been nothing. 

 

Finally, a child refugee _screams_!

 

EXT. DEFENSE EMPLACEMENT – DAY

 

Like an oasis in no man's land, a patch of untouched earth. On it is something like a giant orrery, but the spheres aren't planets. They're weapons. One shoots flame, another ice, etc, etc. Each beam cleaves Parademons out of the sky like a deadly spotlight. 

 

Surrounding the structure are portable forcefields, providing cover for a platoon of New Genesis soldiers, led by a bloody CAPTAIN and a battered XO. They hold off the Dog Soldiers attacking by land.

 

CAPTAIN: Hold fast! Reinforcements are ten minutes out! Stand! _Stand!_

 

It's one hell of a fight. Superpowers vs. brutally advanced technology. We only get a taste of it, only catch the tail end, because almost as soon as the sortie begins, it's over. The Dog Soldiers withdraw, a hundred yards back. They form a circle that cuts off the New Genesis position on all sides. A scene out of a surrealistic Zulu.

 

XO: What are they waiting for? Afraid of running out of meat for the grinder?

 

CAPTAIN: Apokolips? Never.

 

PRIVATE: Incoming!

 

An object is arcing out of the sky toward them like a boulder from a catapult. The platoon ready their powers, but the Captain holds up his hand. They wait.

 

The object lands. It's a body. The XO runs to it, checks. A New Genesis soldier. A hole the size of a soda bottle punched clean through his heart.

 

XO: Mega-Rod. (beat) Furies!

 

Palpable fear spreads. And as if it were all accounted for, the Dog Soldiers part. From the north and south, freight trains in human form break ranks and charge the defense, _alone_. About the only thing visible at their speed are the blood-red capes spread behind them.

 

CAPTAIN: Open fire!

 

A broadside out of an X-Men comic comes at the two Furies, but they dodge and weave like quarterbacks charging the endzone. The explosions dogging their steps don't even make them break stride. In seconds, it's too late. They hit the line like cruise missiles, punching right through the forcefields. Now things slow down enough for us to take in the action.

 

BIG BARDA was our narrator. Six foot six, and not skinny either. As muscular as she is voluptuous, her body entirely hidden by thick armor and a voluminous red cape (a mark of rank), her features strong and dark beneath an impressive helmet.

 

Her friend and commander, BERTHA, looks like she could be Barda's sister. Maybe she is. She's the leader of this outfit and it's written on every inch of her. Both of them wield MEGA-RODS, formidable-looking high-tech clubs.

 

They cut right through the middle of the platoon, each swipe of their rods sending multiple soldiers flying. Finally, only Barda and Bertha are left. They're bloodied and burnt, but uncaring.

 

BARDA: I'm going to miss this war. They fight like dogs, but die like men.

 

BERTHA: Are there any more survivors?

 

BARDA: Is anyone else as good as us? No.

 

BERTHA: On with it, then. I'm ready to go home.

 

Barda raises an eyebrow at that. Furies live for battle. Nothing else.

 

They take up position on either side of the structure and stoop to grab it by the foundation.

 

BARDA: Together.

 

BERTHA: As always.

 

Pooling their strength, they tip it over. When it hits the ground, the spheres shatter against each other. The explosion is gigantic. Flames wash over the Furies without harming them.

 

BARDA: Why would you want to give up all this? This is what we were trained for. This is what we were born for.

 

BERTHA: There's more to life than war.

 

BARDA: Who told you that?

 

BERTHA: (laughing) Barda, never change.

 

Looking at Barda fondly, she sees a stunned New Genesis soldier behind her come to. He raises a glowing hand.

 

Without a thought, Bertha throws Barda out of the way. The energy blast catches her full in the chest. She falls.

 

Barda howls in wordless denial, obliterating the survivor with her Mega-Rod. She runs to Bertha's side, utterly confused.

 

BARDA: Why? (beat) I got careless, I deserved to die.

 

Bertha shakes her head.

 

BERTHA: (weak) Make it up to me.

 

She takes a glass cube from a compartment in her armor. An indistinct image inside. She shows it to Barda. Presses it into her hands.

 

BARDA: Who is she?

 

BERTHA: The best mistake I ever made. Take care of her. She'll take care of you.

 

BARDA: I don't know how.

 

BERTHA: Hold her. (beat) I wasn't fighting for Darkseid. I was fighting for you.

 

That's all she has left. Still holding the cube in Barda's hand, Bertha dies.

 

For a moment, Barda's lost. Not sure what, _how,_ to feel. She mouths "I don't understand." Then she looks up. The New Genesis reinforcements have arrived. The Dog Soldiers are in full retreat. Barda lets them run right by her. She roars in challenge as a thousand enemies bear down on her. Eyes full of pain.

 

INT. CITADEL – DAY

 

Darkseid approaches Highfather. _Everyone_ in the room, even the refugees, move to safeguard him.

 

HIGHFATHER: Away with you. If he wanted to get to me, he could destroy all of you in an instant.

 

GENERAL: With respect, sir... he'll have to.

 

DARKSEID: I did not come for war. I came for peace.

 

HIGHFATHER: You've spoken words of peace before. Only ever to hide the drums of war.

 

DARKSEID: A lesson in truth. That there is no such thing.

 

HIGHFATHER: And why would I treat with one who has made himself the deliberate antithesis of all that is good?

 

DARKSEID: All that you see as good. Your views are... limited. I will demonstrate: We will destroy each other, old man. I find this acceptable. Seeking order, what could be more ordered than oblivion?

 

HIGHFATHER: Then what do you propose? Or have you come all this way just to face the end alongside me?

 

DARKSEID: Mercy.

 

HIGHFATHER: A lie.

 

DARKSEID: Now you understand.

 

He steps forward. Places a scroll on the table. Highfather eyes his hand—cracked and hardened like worn stone.

 

HIGHFATHER: What have you done to yourself, old friend?

 

DARKSEID: I've learned. (beat) Sign this treaty. Have your peace. Its conditions ensure we shall never war again. Not without shedding our own blood.

 

Highfather looks it over. The blood drains from his face, air abandoning his lungs. He sits down, shell-shocked, the thing already tumbling around in his mind.

 

HIGHFATHER: No. Out of the question.

 

DARKSEID: And now you see the extent of my mercy. As much as your utopia offends me, its destruction is not worth half as much to me as knowing if its leader is truly as noble as he claims. After all your people have sacrificed for you, what will you sacrifice for them?

 

A beat. Then Highfather signs the treaty, as quick as he would amputate a limb. He drops his pen to the ground.

 

HIGHFATHER: I know you. This is all some plot of yours. It won't work. Whatever you hope to achieve… you will find yourself opposed.

 

DARKSEID: Yes. I do hope so. I mark the progress of my intent by the bodies crushed in my wake. Goodbye, Highfather. We won't see each other again.

 

HIGHFATHER: I think we will... Darkseid.

 

EXT. DEFENSE EMPLACEMENT – DAY

 

Tears roll down Barda's face, streaking the blood and grime as she faces down a horde of New Genesis attackers. She stands in front of Bertha's body as if defending it, a Mega-Rod in either hand. They're not moving.

 

After a few moments of build-up, she can't take it anymore. She SCREAMS out rage, beating her hands against her chest to demand they attack her. They draw swords. It looks like they'll charge at any moment. Barda grits her teeth and prepares for the end.

 

It doesn't come. As one, the New Genesis side withdraws. Barda stares at them, deflating. Her radio squawks a moment later. "Ceasefire, ceasefire!" She crushes it in her hand.

 

BARDA: Cowards!

 

EXT. CREMATORIUM – DAY

 

Cut to a raging fire. It's an incinerator, a conveyor belt leading into it. Piled high with Apokoliptian bodies. We're behind enemy lines, in the camp of the invaders.

 

Barda holds Bertha's body, all but the face wrapped in linen. With what modicum of dignity she can manage, Barda places the body among the haphazardly piled heaps of sentient trash. She watches the process until the end, as the body is burnt to fuel a massive Fangship docked above like a car at the pump.

 

No grief. Only a mounting rage.

 

EXT. APOKOLIPS – TIMELESS

 

A vision of hell. Overcast skies from a constant column of dark smoke, courtesy of the Fire-Pits… like volcanoes, only man-made. Barda trudges through the wasteland to a hollowed-out stalagmite the size of a castle—home.

 

The rage is part of Barda's features now, like the color of her eyes or the length of her hair. She sticks a key into the stalagmite's lock like she's shivving someone. A LOWLY, one of Apokolips' slave caste, stands in the way when she opens the door.

 

LOWLY: I'm sorry, mistress, you can't come in here. These are Big Bertha's living quarters.

 

BARDA: Not anymore.

 

LOWLY: Then you're--

 

BARDA: The new leader of the Female Furies.

 

LOWLY: My apologies, First Fury, I didn't know, how could I, I had no way of knowing-

 

BARDA: Quiet. If I'm going to punish you, I'll do it later.

 

LOWLY: Yes, mistress. Bertha's things are still inside. Would you like me to remove them for you?

 

BARDA: No. Leave everything as it is. Except take a bath.

 

He hustles off.

 

INT. CASTLE – TIMELESS

 

Alone with her growing anger, Barda goes through her dead friend's home. As you'd expect, it's Brutalist architecture and a Spartan aesthetic. All except for the shrine.

 

What other word is there for it? Clustered with pictures of Barda and Bertha together. No poses, smiles. Pictures of them displaying captured plunder, testing out weapons, demonstrating fighting techniques. The only keepsakes tolerated in their militaristic culture. The only spot of color in the apartment, it's obvious how much Bertha cared.

 

Barda leans over the shrine, head bowed, propped up on her arms. From the way her fingers bite into the metal, it's clear the feeling was mutual.

 

BARDA: Bertha!

 

It's not said with affection. It's yelled like a war cry. She rips the shrine out of its moorings and turns to dash it against the wall. She only stops when she sees AURALIE in the way. A little girl, as sweet and innocent as Barda is warlike.

 

AURALIE: Did the furniture do something wrong?

 

We see an inferno of anger burning out. Barda sets down the shrine.

 

BARDA: I'm... I'm a friend of Bertha.

 

AURALIE: Mommy?

 

BARDA: Yes. I'm a friend of your mother. (brusque) She's... she had to go away. She told me to take care of you.

 

AURALIE: You stay?

 

BARDA: Yes. I'll stay.

 

Auralie hugs Barda's boot. That's how tall she is.

 

BARDA: I am Barda.

 

AURALIE: My name's Auralie.

 

Barda takes out the cube Bertha gave her, looking at it once more. Inside is a holographic 'picture' of Auralie. She sets the cube down on the shrine, an anomaly in countless images of two friends.

 

BARDA: Alright. Auralie. What do you eat?


	2. Chapter 2

EXT. NEW GENESIS – DAY

 

We're floating miles above the ground, right in the clouds. Sun-drenched. Beautiful. A MOTHER, golden-haired and beautiful, dressed in a gown so white it shines, cradles her INFANT SON. She's playing with him, the two delighted with each other, but there's a touch of sadness even as she spins the baby around, blows raspberries in his stomach. She finally holds him up to her face, his tiny fingers reaching for her.

 

MOTHER: Be…

 

INT. PEOPLE STORAGE – APOKOLIPS – TIMELESS

 

MOTHER: (V.O.) …strong.

 

SCOTT FREE is asleep, holding his hand up like he's still reaching for this woman. He's handsome, with friendly, vulnerable features instantly ill at ease in this environment. Lumpy bed, dirty sheets, a layer of grime on everything—maybe even the camera. His alarm clock rings—a pipe VENTING STEAM into his bed. Howling awake, he rolls out of bed, already dressed for work in a worn 'union suit.'

 

An OVERSEER, moderately better-dressed thanks mainly to a NICE HAT, comes by WHIPPING the few who are too tired to be awoken by hot steam with a riding crop. He shoves Scott into a forming line.

 

OVERSEER: C'mon, three hours of sleep aren't enough for you?

 

As he trudges along with the line, we PULL OUT to see the vast scope of this place. It's like a warehouse for people, each stuffed into sleeping cubicles the size of tombs. What's more, they pull out of the ground like drawers so you're buried while you sleep.

 

As this row wakes up, the storage moves upward to let new sleepers out. One is particularly slow out of bed and is caught between his cubicle and the ceiling. He screams and struggles. The Overseer impotently whips him. Scott looks, but can do nothing.

 

EXT. APOKOLIPS – TIMELESS

 

The same hellish environment we recognize from before. It's gotten worse, if that's possible. Scott's line is dragging toward a smoldering Fire-Pit. They pass a booth with, incongruously, a glowing neon sign as in "Eat At Joe's." Only it says "FEED."

 

As they pass it, the workers are given rations—tiny pills that don't at all look like candy. The workers dry-swallow them. Scott takes it, throws it in the air, and catches it in his mouth on the way down. Swallows. Barely keeps it down.

 

INT. FIRE-PIT – TIMELESS

 

A factory run on geothermal energy. Lava flows like blood in a slaughterhouse; steam like a sauna. Everyone instantly SWEATS. Scott tugs at his union suit, loosening it enough to breathe. More OVERSEERS usher him to an assembly line where FOEBOTS—robot soldiers—are built. Scott's tools are delivered to him on the line like he's one more part of the factory. He takes them and instantly gets to work on the next Foebot in line—installing a CONTROL CHIP. It's delicate but boring work. He gets it plugged in.

 

FOEBOT: Objective—serve Lord Darkseid!

 

SCOTT: (under his breath) Good luck with that.

 

NICE HAT OVERSEER: (passing by) Keep it down!

 

Scott works on the line—and works… and works.

 

FOEBOTS: Objective—serve Lord Darkseid! Objective—serve Lord Darkseid! Objective—serve Lord Darkseid!

 

Until he yawns and we realize it's the end of the workday, because a DUMPDOZER—a dumptruck with the front end of a bulldozer-is coming down the line. It scoops up the dead-on-their-feet workers and drops them unceremoniously in the back.

 

EXT. APOKOLIPS – TIMELESS

 

The workers are driven back to People Storage. Only Scott has the will left to claw his way to the top and, not willing to step on his fellow workers, sits on the edge of the truckbed. He sees formations of Parademons flying through the air, soldiers training, distant Fire-Pits belching flame.

 

SOLDIERS: (chanting) Darkseid IS! Darkseid IS! Darkseid IS!

 

Hell on Earth without the earth.

 

INT. PEOPLE STORAGE – TIMELESS

 

Scott gets into bed, is asleep instantly, rolls over in his sleep and is DOUSED WITH STEAM. He runs through the same routine again. Sleep, pill, work, sleep. The montage drilling into our heads the brutality of it, the dehumanization. Until…

 

INT. FIRE-PIT – TIMELESS

 

The assembly line cranks to a stop. MALFUNCTION. One of the Foebots is stuttering.

 

FOEBOT: Ob-j-j-j-j-jective—serve Lord D-d-d-d-darkseid!

 

Guards crowd around the problem area, a little down the line. The workers are unsupervised, a little free to wander. High above, a pipe is leaking. The workers crowd around it, taking the opportunity to gather the water in their hands and rinse themselves a little. One tries drinking it. He instantly RETCHES.

 

Only Scott ambles closer to the problem area, full of compassion for the SCAPEGOAT… another lowly worker. The Nice Hat Overseer shoves a titanic TECHNICAL MANUAL into his hands.

 

NICE HAT OVERSEER: Fix it!

 

SCAPEGOAT: Please, I'm not trained, I… I can't read…

 

NICE HAT OVERSEER: FIX IT!

 

The Scapegoat desperately pages through the ridiculously complicated manual. Technical diagrams that might as well be Sanskrit. He weeps openly. The Nice Hat Overseer makes a gesture and two of his GUARDS drag the Scapegoat away. He drops the manual, SCREAMS as a gun is put to his head.

 

SCOTT: Excuse me?

 

Scott pops up, holding a very tiny screw.

 

SCOTT: I forgot to put this in. Do you think this might be important?

 

The Nice Hat Overseer looks him over. Then savagely SUCKER PUNCHS him. Scott drops. The Nice Hat Overseer waves the guards off and the Scapegoat runs back to join the others without a second look at Scott…

 

Who milks it, lying on the ground as the Nice Hat Overseer fiddles with the Foebot. Unseen, he commando-crawls to where the manual lies, pulling it to him, flipping through it—he rips some pages out, folds them carefully, stuffs them in his pockets…

 

FOEBOT: Objective—serve Lord Darkseid!

 

Time's up, thing's fixed. Scott closes the manual and shoves it away. The Nice Hat Overseer, unaware it ever moved, gives Scott a kick in the ribs and shoves him on his way.

 

INT. PEOPLE STORAGE – THAT NIGHT

 

Buried alive in his sleeping cubicle, but some light trickling down the sides from up above, Scott studies the ripped-out pages backwards and forward. He doesn't so much as blink.

 

EXT. APOKOLIPS – TIMELESS

 

Yawning, Scott and his co-workers are escorted to their workplace. They pick up their ration-pills. Scott takes his and tosses it back to the server.

 

SCOTT: (all smiles) I'm watching my weight.

 

The server stares back, blankly confused, as Scott is shuffled along by the line.

 

INT. FIRE-PIT – TIMELESS

 

Scott installs the Foebot control chips—but, with a clandestine look around, he ZIGS instead of ZAGGING.

 

FOEBOT: Objective—acquire cupcakes!

 

The Foebot is moving down the line before anyone notices. Scott does it again.

 

FOEBOT: Objective—acquire cupcakes!

 

He works like the wind—has five 'malfunctions' in a few seconds. Now the Overseer notices.

 

NICE HAT OVERSEER: (stepping in) Wait a minute…

 

SCOTT: (to Foebot) I think that guy has some cupcakes.

 

He jerks his thumb at the Nice Hat Overseer and the sadistic bastard is MOBBED. His hat goes flying, to be caught by Scott. Guards run in to assist, the workers panic at the commotion, alarms sound... and Scott casually walks away. Picking up another worker's WRENCH, he knocks the valves off some pipes as he goes, the spewing steam adding to the chaos.

 

INT. FIRE-PIT – UPPER LEVEL – TIMELESS

 

A kind of gantry high above the assembly floor, criss-crossed with catwalks and the omnipresent pipes. Scott breaks one more valve and drops the wrench off the side—we hear a distant cry of pain. He slips the Overseer's hat on. Out a window, we can see an AIR-DOCK… something like an alien helipad. One of two PILOTS, in distinctive flight-suit, is waiting at an idling CARGO FREIGHT.

 

Scott spots the other one coming out of a bathroom inside.

 

SCOTT: (official voice) Hey, you there! Barloom!

 

PILOT: (confused) My name's not Barloom.

 

Scott ambles up to him like a cop pulling over a speeder.

 

SCOTT: What are you talking about? Barloom's on my manifest. You take Barloom's shift?

 

PILOT: I've never heard of this Barloom guy…

 

SCOTT: He's supposed to be picking up this shipment! What are you doing here? You're in big trouble if you took another pilot's shift without authorization!

 

PILOT: (defensive) This is my shift! I swear on Darkseid!

 

SCOTT: Yeah, well, my manifest says Barloom's doing the pick-up. I have it right in my office, c'mon…

 

The Pilot unthinkingly goes with Scott into a MAINTENANCE CLOSET, which he's just started to notice isn't kosher when Scott takes a clipboard off the wall and shows it to him.

 

SCOTT: See? Right here. B-A-R…

 

As the Pilot leans in for a look, Scott punches through the clipboard, hitting the Pilot right in the jaw. He goes down. With surprising violence, Scott picks him back up and bashes him against the wall until he's out cold.

 

SCOTT: (cooling off) Sorry about that. I may have a few unresolved issues with you enslaving and torturing me. (beat) Also, this is gonna get a little sexy.

 

He begins pulling off the Pilot's uniform.

 

EXT. FIRE-PIT – AIR-DOCK – TIMELESS

 

Now dressed as the Pilot, Scott hoists himself into the Cargo Freight's cockpit with the CO-PILOT.

 

SCOTT: Hi there. Name's Barloom. I'll be taking over as pilot.

 

CO-PILOT: What happened to Raperick?

 

SCOTT: Saw Darkseid. Went to get his autograph. Run me through the controls here, this starts this heap of junk up, right?

 

Going off the Co-Pilot's increasing disbelieving looks, Scott works his way through powering the Cargo Freight on.

 

CO-PILOT: Have you ever flown one of these before?

 

SCOTT: First time for everything.

 

CO-PILOT: Do you ever know how to fly?

 

SCOTT: I know where the eject button is. (points at button) Here, right?

 

He pushes it. The RADIO comes on, playing a harsh marching beat.

 

SCOTT: Easy mistake to make.

 

He pushes the button right next to it and the Co-Pilot is SHOTPUTTED right out of the craft. Scott watches him go as a CHORUS joins the music.

 

RADIO: Darkseid IS, Darkseid IS, Darkseid IS!

 

SCOTT: (flipping it off) Hate that channel.

 

Piloting like Nick Nolte on his way home from the bar, Scott lifts off. The Cargo Freight—an ugly rectangle of a ship—weaves around a little, then dutifully speeds away.

 

INT. CARGO FREIGHT – LATER

 

Scott's gotten the hang of piloting. He keeps one hand on the yoke, his other elbow up on the dashboard, and he's wearing the Overseer's nice hat again. He hums to the tune of the "song" earlier.

  
SCOTT: Darkseid is, Darkseid is, Darkseid issss… (beat) Damn, that's catchy.

 

The radio SCREAMS back on.

 

RADIO VOICE: Fugitive Scott Free! Cease escaping immediately and face Darkseid's wrath!

 

Scott picks up the radio like he's a teamster on the CB.

 

SCOTT: (cheerily) Look, I really appreciate the way you guys raised me in that messed-up orphanage and beat me whenever I spoke out of turn, or whenever you felt like it, just general crushing-my-spirit stuff… good times, good times. But I think it's time for me to move on. We've had a good run. I've learned a lot from you, you've hit me many times… let's call it a day. Oh, and I still have a cargo hold full of your weapons of mass destruction. If you want 'em, I'm going to be dropping them off in the nearest sun, so you can pick them up there.

 

RADIO VOICE: Fugitive Scott Free, escape is impossible! Land your ship or you will die!

 

Still cheery, Scott rips the handset out of the radio and tosses it over his shoulder.

 

SCOTT: That's cool too.

 

Almost instantly, the ship ROCKS with a direct hit.

 

EXT. CARGO FREIGHT – TIMELESS

 

The Cargo Freight is being tailed by a PURSUIT GALLEON twice its size. Lasers flash from pursuer to pursued, knocking the little Cargo Freight around the sky.

 

INT. CARGO FREIGHT – TIMELESS

 

Scott is bounced around the cockpit, barely staying in his seat.

 

SCOTT: (fuming) You can't let me go, why can't you just let me go… (cools) Okay then, Your way's fine.

 

He pulls back hard on the yoke.

 

EXT. SKIES – TIMELESS

 

The Cargo Freight practically makes a 90-degree turn, headed straight up. The Pursuit Galleon lifts up after it. They plunge into the black ash that makes up Apokolips' ceiling.

 

INT. CARGO FREIGHT – TIMELESS

 

The ship is vertical and the windshield is washed in ashes. Scott watches it carefully, biting his lip. Slowly, the smoke clears. As the ship is rocked by another blast, Scott sees the stars come out. It's a familiar but welcome sight.

 

RADIO VOICE: Fugitive Scott Free, your foolishness in attempting to escape is only matched in the foolishness of your method of escape! Your craft is not capable of space travel! The only way off Apokolips is via Boomtube Generator!

 

SCOTT: (grins) You mean, like the one you have?

 

He cuts the throttle.

 

EXT. OUTER ATMOSPHERE – TIMELESS

 

Hundreds of feet beyond the topmost layer of smog, the Cargo Freight and the Pursuit Galleon have burst out, trailing wisps of smoke. The Galleon is right on the Freight's tail. So when the Freight drops, it drops directly toward the Galleon.

 

INT. CARGO FREIGHT – TIMELESS

 

Scott looks over his shoulder at the rear of the ship as it slams into the Galleon, RIPPING OPEN, the two ships grinding together. As the hulls breach, he can actually see into the bridge of the Galleon, the crew members scattered, dazed.

 

EXT. OUTER ATMOSPHERE – TIMELESS

 

The Galleon loses power as well. Engines dead, it drifts back toward Apokolips.

 

INT. CARGO FREIGHT – TIMELESS

 

While gravity is still working, Scott rolls out of his chair and drops down the length of the Cargo Freight, INTO the Galleon, stopping his descent by grabbing onto a control console. He's face to face with a HELMSMAN whose world has stopped making sense.

 

SCOTT: (to Helmsman) Well, ya got me.

 

EXT. OUTER ATMOSPHERE – TIMELESS

 

The meshed ships plunge back into the smog, now gearing up for terminal velocity.

 

INT. PURSUIT GALLEON – TIMELESS

 

Weightless in the freefall, Scott throws himself from one console to another as an on-point GUARDSMAN opens fire. The shots narrowly miss him, and the recoil pushes the weightless Guardsman back. He's not accustomed to fighting in zero-G.

 

Neither is Scott, but he learns fast. Grabbing a floating (and screaming) CREWMAN, he tosses the poor fuck at the Guardsman. The two collide and slide into empty space, hopelessly off-balance.

 

Now Scott turns his attention to the CAPTAIN, still belted into his seat in the middle of the room. He's working on his Boomtube generator, the FATHER BOX, trying to get out of there. He points the thing around like he's trying to change the channel on a TV, summoning up PORTALS to other places. In his haste, most of them land on OUTER SPACE. He dismisses those and tries again.

 

Scott grabs hold of a railing and pulls himself along hand-over-hand like he's climbing a rope in gym class.

 

SCOTT: Leaving so soon?

 

CAPTAIN: ("channel-surfing") You're insane! You'll kill us all!

 

SCOTT: Isn't that your thing? Life is meaningless? Only Darkseid has meaning? Die for Darkseid?

 

CAPTAIN: (pulling open his seatbelts, scurrying to get away) YOU PEOPLE die for Darkseid, not us!

 

Scott throws himself at the Captain, who opens up a new BOOMTUBE just in time. Scott flies right through it, into…

 

EXT. APOKOLIPS – TIMELESS

 

Exactly what the Captain was trying for, solid ground. Scott lands unharmed in front of a line of workers. They stare as he picks up a rock and dives back through the Boomtube.

 

INT. PURSUIT GALLEON – TIMELESS

 

Scott goes back the way he came, narrowly avoiding being cut in half as the Captain CLOSES THE PORTAL. He hits the wall, whips around, and THROWS THE ROCK AT THE CAPTAIN'S HEAD.

 

It slams home, dazing the Captain long enough for Scott to parkour onto him and grab the Father Box. Crouched over the Captain, he gleefully reprograms it.

 

SCOTT: Now, where to? I hear Vega's nice this time of year. Ooh, how about Krypton? I've heard they've had some troubles, but surely they're back on their feet by now…

 

The Captain just screams.

 

SCOTT: Okay, I'll go solo.

 

But suddenly, the Pursuit Galleon's descent STOPS. The previously weightless everything goes flying, Scott losing his new Father Box in the maelstrom.

 

EXT. PURSUIT GALLEON – TIMELESS

 

BARDA, flying thanks to AERO-DISKS on her boots, has caught the falling Galleon. Her great strength is slowing it down, fast.

 

INT. PURSUIT GALLEON – TIMELESS

 

Everything is crammed against the far side of the bridge by the deceleration. Scott, battered and bruised, claws over all comers to get to the Father Box.

 

SCOTT: No, no, no, no…

 

EXT. PURSUIT GALLEON – TIMELESS

 

Barda roughly sets the Galleon down. Coming around, she grabs hold of the hull and RIPS IT OPEN, letting herself in…

 

INT. PURSUIT GALLEON – TIMELESS

 

Scott has just managed to open a portal. It's not to Apokolips—it's to some other world, a WINTER WONDERLAND, the pleasant blue light escaping into this hellhole. It's just ten feet away from him. He can taste it.

 

And Barda's ten feet away too, her Mega-Rod leveled at him. Now we get a good look at her. Older, harder, stronger. Her armor's better, her eyes are colder.

 

BARDA: Don't!

 

The Galleon's crew moans and groans, getting to their feet. Scott doesn't have much time to make his move.

 

SCOTT: (supremely at peace) Remember when we used to train together? You always went easy on me. No broken bones.

 

BARDA: Scott, make this easy on yourself.

 

There's a crack in Barda's façade. Miniscule, but it's there. She cares what happens to him.

 

SCOTT: You were like me, once. There was something in you, some spark… I wonder what happened. How you fit in so well here and I never did.

 

BARDA: Don't try it.

 

SCOTT: Maybe that's the difference between us. You'll never try… and I always will.

 

Scott makes a break for the Boomtube. Barda fires.

 

Scott's diving for it, hands outstretched, basking in the glow of it. His fingers brush the event horizon…

 

And Barda's shot hits him in the side, JERKING him away like a fish on a line. He flies across the bridge, lands hard, and the Boomtube blips out of existence. Scott just lies there. Resigned to this. Used to it. He opens his hand. A single snowflake's in his palm. It melts into one tiny drop of pure water and he licks it up.

 

Barda stands over him.

 

SCOTT: Wanna hear something funny? I'd do it all again.

 

INT. DUNGEON – TIMELESS

 

If you thought the rest of Apokolips was bad, this will make you think you were being too harsh on it. It's like the slaughterhouse of the gods. Men hang from the walls like sides of beef, the only sign they're still alive the moans they let out. Workers wage a never-ending battle against the bloodstains everywhere, hosing them down with water that's already pretty crimson. Through it all, Scott walks. The prodigal son returning.

 

He's handcuffed, his ribs bandaged where Barda blasted him. She's behind him, prodding him on with her Mega-Rod, but letting him take things slow out of concern for his injury. She hides it, but the history between them means something to her.

 

BARDA: How many escape attempts is this, Scott? How many?

 

SCOTT: This month?

 

BARDA: ("ask a silly question") Too many. Do you know how brilliant you are? Most people couldn't have even gotten out of line, you made it into the stratosphere. If you just accepted Darkseid, you could rise so high in the ranks. I could be taking orders from you.

 

SCOTT: Kinky.

 

BARDA: Do you like being tortured? Is that it? I can set you up with a position in the Pain Corps, all you have to do is ask…

 

SCOTT: I don't belong here, Barda. It's as simple as that.

 

BARDA: And where do you belong, hmm?

 

They've come to the torture chamber, hidden by a plastic curtain. It's nearly painted red with splatter.

 

BARDA: (continued) Where?

 

SCOTT: When I get there… I'll send you a postcard.

 

Barda pushes him through.

 

INT. TORTURE CHAMBER – TIMELESS

 

Thankfully, we can't see much. It's dark, but the floor is covered by more plastic. In the center of the room, under a painfully intense spotlight, is a DENTIST'S CHAIR. DESAAD, a slimy little sadist in a red smock, sits on the armrest. He beckons Scott onward. They greet each other like the cartoon sheepdog and the wolf at the punch clock.

 

DESAAD: What was it today? Industrial sabotage. Aggravated assault. Hijacking. Destruction of government property. Resisting arrest…

 

SCOTT: It was an off day.

 

DESAAD: I think I can fit you in, but we'll have to start off at Level Six, I have another appointment coming up.

 

SCOTT: Gotta do what you gotta do.

 

Barda watches, face tightly controlled, as Desaad helps Scott hobble into the chair and buckles him in.

 

DESAAD: One thing I will say for you, you always seem so happy to see me.

 

SCOTT: It's good to see a man enjoying his work.

 

Desaad is just putting the electrodes on Scott's temples when Barda grabs the chair and spins it around to face her.

 

BARDA: This isn't a game you want to keep playing. Sooner or later, they will run out of patience. I won't be able to protect you.

 

SCOTT: Tell me something. If I'm such a troublemaker, why haven't they killed me already? (pointed) Why haven't _you_?

 

Barda walks away before Desaad can throw the lever.

 

Scott never screams.


	3. Chapter 3

EXT. TANK – DAY

 

Another agrarian paradise. For a moment, we might think we're seeing a coping mechanism, a fantasy of Scott's as he's tortured.

 

Then a gas-guzzling TANK the side of a mansion ROARS into frame, spewing maliciously black fumes from its many smokestacks, which protrude from the vehicle at all angles like spears that have sunk into a great beast but failed to kill it.

 

INT. TANK – DAY

 

LASHINA—ambitious, elite—moves through the cramped corridors. The noise is overwhelming. She's clothed in a distinct armor—hand-crafted, unlike the mass-produced wear of most of Apokolips' forces. WHIPS coil around her arms and neck like snakes. Occasionally, they move.

 

She comes to a common room, not much more than a clearing in the labyrinth, where the FEMALE FURIES, her team, is stationed. Some play cards, others read scrolls bearing the seal of DARKSEID—his malevolent face. At the far side of the room, BIG BARDA sits alone. From the wide berth she's given in this cramped space, it's obvious she is now the leader.

 

Except that right now, she's looking at the cube Bertha gave her. Something like homesickness in her eyes as she regards this simple picture, a kind of longing common to all soldiers, even fanatics.

 

She hears Lashina's approach and rapidly hides the cube in her armor like it was contraband.

 

LASHINA: (saluting) First Fury.

 

BARDA: (nods in turn) Second. Report.

 

LASHINA: We have the location.

 

EXT. TANK – LATER

 

The great Tank has grinded to a stop, its belly open to let loose the FURIES. Barda takes point, Lashina shadowing her. Lashina's whips trail behind her, flicking electricity into the grass, starting tiny fires, while Barda holds a MEGA-ROD.

 

Ahead of them is the planet's last stand. Scores of dead Parademons surround it—the Furies literally walk on top of them as they get closer. It's a ruin—the remains of a fortress, inconveniently enough. Soldiers line what's left of the walls, holding rifles.

 

INT. RUIN – DAY

 

Far from the fighting, we see what's being protected. Women. Children. The wounded. A little girl PRAYS and one of the WALKING WOUNDED, his mind gone with shell shock, looks at her blankly.

 

WALKING WOUNDED: Who are you praying to? (beat) The gods are coming to kill us.

 

Suddenly, an EXPLOSION shakes the room. We hear screaming, GUNSHOTS, BLOOD. It's over in a few seconds. Eerie silence. A few of the civilians hold guns. They ready them nervously.

 

We hear hard IMPACTS on the wall, banging like something's trying to get in. They move upward. Suddenly, a FIST breaks through, ten feet up. Even the traumatized civilians inside muster up SHRIEKS. The fist grips the whole and ascends, replaced by a booted foot. We realize—someone's CLIMBING.

 

They reach the roof. FOOTFALLS shake dust loose as they move to the center. Those with guns aim upward. A resounding impact—BOOM!—another—BOOM!—and the roof gives! STOMPA, even bigger and meaner than Barda, DROPS DOWN INTO THE CENTER OF THE ROOM. The civilians open fire, but the bullets bounce right off her. 

 

Above, BERNADETH, tall and skeletal, leans down to look through the hole. She strikes down the shooters with throwing knives. When they hit, her targets burst into flame.

 

The first line of defense cleared, Lashina jumps down onto Stompa's back. Her whips strike like twin scorpion tails: cutting through lines of enemies, wrapping around necks and snapping them, extending and contracting as necessary to do their mistress's bidding. She uses them like piano wire to SLICE UP one armed man, then another, then she wheels and sees a SURRENDERING MAN, offering up his empty hands. She flicks her whip and a moment later, his hands fall off.

 

Lashina laughs, not noticing a woman behind her attacking with nothing more than a large rock. BARDA grabs the woman by the wrist, saving Lashina, who notices in dismay.

 

BARDA: Try to make yourself useful.

 

She throws the woman to the ground, cowed. Lashina simmers. She whistles and MAD HARRIET, a cackling madwoman, leaps onto the downed woman, savaging her with razor-sharp claws.

 

The refugees cringe, huddling together in one sodden mass of fear. They fall deathly silent as Barda approaches, her women trailing behind her. Mad Harriet jumps over to a mother standing in front of her children, FLASHING her claws.

 

BARDA: (not even looking) We're not here for that.

 

Chided, Mad Harriet falls back into rank. Barda walks right through the refugees, who part like a curtain to let her make her way to the center of the ruin—an OBELISK that looks like it's been standing there since the beginning of time. At its base, an OMEGA SYMBOL. Barda reaches for it.

 

ELDER: (O.S.) Don't!

 

With a look of irritation in her eyes, Barda hesitates. Behind her (she doesn't favor him with a glance), a bruised-but-wise COMMUNITY ELDER pleads with her.

 

ELDER: You don't know what you're doing! Inside there is no treasure! It's imprisoned—a fragment of Anti-Life, a piece of the great equation. Bring it to your master and he'll be one step closer to completing the puzzle… he'll wipe free will from the universe!

 

BARDA: That's the idea.

 

Impatiently, Lashina sends her whip over a rafter and back down to wrap around the Elder's neck as a noose. She hoists him off his feet to slowly strangle as Barda pets the Omega symbol, almost lovingly—revealing it to be a handle that lifts right out of the stone. She pulls and something UNBEARABLE emerges from the obelisk. The refugees faint in droves while the Furies bask in the glow.

 

Barda leaves with it, passing the Elder as he turns blue. Casually, she cuts him down.

 

BARDA: (a passing order to Lashina) He may know where the rest are hidden.

 

Lashina, bitter, flicks her other whip at Harriet. The psychopath rears up from all fours, slashing at a BOY clutching a teddy bear. Barda pulls her away from him.

 

BARDA: (to Harriet) Bring him.

 

Mad Harriet obediently collects the Elder, digging her claws a little ways into his clothes. Barda regards the frightened youth, almost wanting to comfort him. Then she grabs the teddy bear from him and tucks it into the folds of her cape.

 

EXT. RUINS – DAY

 

The Furies leave, now in the shadow of a FANG-SHIP as it comes down to obliterate the battlefield.

 

BARDA: (into communicator) We have it. No need now for kid gloves.

 

But as they go, Lashina sees something. She stops, stoops to pick it up.

 

It's the cube Barda was carrying.

 

INT. DUNGEON – TIMELESS

 

Every inch of his body bruised, Scott is dropped into a pit of fetid water. It comes up to his ankles, not that he can stand. He slumps against the wall, speechless.

 

There's another man in there with him, sitting next to him in fact. The ELDER from the planet Barda invaded. But Scott's eye on that side is swollen shut, so he has to turn to face him. Only his neck is too stiff to move. He awkwardly maneuvers his entire body around to face his fellow prisoner.

 

SCOTT: (at last) Come here often?

 

ELDER: Such pain… endless pain…

 

SCOTT: Ahh, you get used to it. Take… deep breaths. Focus on breathing. Shut the pain out. Air. Air is the key.

 

The Elder takes a deep breath and is wracked with coughs, but persists and slowly finds a rhythm. Scott nods.

 

SCOTT: There you go. It's over, for now. Don't worry about what'll happen later, just enjoy this. They haven't won if you're enjoying yourself.

 

ELDER: You're not like them.

 

SCOTT: That about sums it up.

 

ELDER: What's your name?

 

SCOTT: Scott Free. (off the obvious question) They call me that because I'm not.

 

ELDER: Because you're… how old are you, Scott Free?

 

SCOTT: Twenty-six.

 

The Elder seems to have an attack. Another coughing fit, then we can see it's EXCITEMENT.

 

ELDER: Your parents, who are…

 

SCOTT: Easy, easy old man. Don't give yourself a heart attack, let them do that.

 

The Elder just looks at Scott imploringly.

 

SCOTT: I don't have parents. I grew up in Granny Goodness's Orphanage.

 

ELDER: You're him! You must be him! You're the Trade!

 

SCOTT: (humoring him) Uh-huh, sure thing, I am exactly whatever that is.

 

ELDER: (fading) Thank the Cosmos—this burden is lifted from me. It's yours now! Yours to unlock your destiny!

 

SCOTT: I think you've got the wrong guy, old-timer. I haven't got a destiny. They made me take a career aptitude test and it marked me down as cannon fodder. That's an actual designation.

 

ELDER: LISTEN! We hid it from Darkseid. We hid it on Earth. You have to find it, you have to keep it safe… only you… find Mr. Miracle and his dwarf, they'll give you what's in the box, it will lead you to the resting place.

 

With his last iota of energy, the Elder grabs Scott, who cringes in pain.

 

ELDER: Whatever you do, do not let any son of Apokolips touch it. If they claim its power, it's as good as Darkseid's. Destroy it! Destroy it before it destroys us all… you're the only one who can, Izaya-son…

 

SCOTT: What'd you call me?

 

The Elder slides off Scott, into the water with nary a ripple. He's gone somewhere that has to be better than here.

 

SCOTT: Hey! Hey, old man, come on… you can't just…

 

He bows his head. Tears come, for someone he barely knows and for himself. 


	4. Chapter 4

EXT. BARRACKS – TIMELESS

 

Establishing shot. A battalion of Foebots marches by.

 

INT. BARRACKS – DESERTED CORNER – TIMELESS

 

Barda securely locks the door to this small room behind her before going to an air vent and popping the cover off.

 

BARDA: It's safe. Come out.

 

Auralie comes out. She's grown into a woman, pretty and doll-like child, and seems impossible after all the ugliness we've seen.

 

AURALIE: Auntie Barda! I saw a rat today, and followed it around, and then it followed me around…

 

From her voice, Auralie is off in her own little world, and doesn't come back often. Barda shuts her down, not good at this naked human contact.

 

BARDA: I brought you something.

 

She hands out a parcel. Auralie rips it open to finds the doll from the Elder's planet inside. It's spoils of war, still with a few bullet holes in it, but Auralie immediately hugs it in glee.

 

Happy she's happy, Barda sits down against the wall, taking off her helmet and at last allowing herself to unclench. She looks close to tears. Auralie, of course, notices.

 

AURALIE: What's wrong, Auntie? Did something bad happen to today?

 

BARDA: Yes.

 

AURALIE: You shouldn't cry though. Why cry if it wasn't your fault? It wasn't your fault, was it?

 

BARDA: No. It was his.

 

Unsatisfied with her own response, Barda stands. She towers over Auralie.

 

BARDA: Do you remember your mother?

 

AURALIE: (easily) No.

 

BARDA: She was a Female Fury—like me. When she died, she made me promise to protect you. We're not supposed to make babies the way you were made. It's dangerous. It's… against Darkseid's wishes.

 

Auralie is playing with her doll now, dancing with it.

 

BARDA: Auralie, listen to me! It's not… legal for you to live like this. Soon, I'll have to enlist you in the army. We should've done it already. I need to know you can be a soldier. Can you? Can you _belong_?

 

AURALIE: (simply) I belong with you.

 

The door blows suddenly—Foebots crowd in, led by a JUSTIFIER (Darkseid's field commanders). Barda is instantly shielding Auralie from them. Freeze. It's like a nightmare, Barda's poker face good but not that good as she takes it in. Auralie peeks out from behind Barda's leg. Then, the Justifier speaks.

 

JUSTIFIER: Date: Darkseid's reign year one thousand thirteen, location: Female Furies barracks, planetary sector delta, grid coordinates…

 

He's already filling out the report.

 

BARDA: What are you doing here? Is this your assignment?

 

The Justifier gestures to the Foebots: "get on with it." They pass Barda right by, almost politely, and pick up Auralie. Barda's fists clench, but she can't bring herself to do anything.

 

BARDA: I am leader of the Female Furies, I demand to know what's in operation!

 

The Justifier gives her a look. He pointedly continues the verbal report.

 

JUSTIFIER: Occurrence: investigation of reported unregistered youth…

 

BARDA: (bluffing badly) She's not unregistered, she's in the system, you've made a mistake.

 

JUSTIFIER: Suitability for enlistment summarily determined at twenty-one-hundred-hours. Scans indicate substandard mental capacity and genetic abnormality, rendering subject unfit for service.

 

BARDA: Your scanners aren't calibrated properly, I insist… I _demand_ you run them again!

 

JUSTIFIER: Subject taken to base for continued testing and subsequent decision-making.

 

BARDA: (defeated) Her name is Auralie.

 

Auralie is taken away, trying to make friends with the two Foebots and their firm grip on her hands.

 

BARDA: (marshalling) I'll need to see her. She doesn't understand this now, but she'll be scared later, (babbling now) I can calm her down, it'll make the testing easier, she'll probably score off the charts.

 

A gunshot. Barda stops cold. Doesn't wince, doesn't blink, but everything there is to her goes black.

 

AURALIE: (O.S.) Mommy…

 

The Justifier turns off his recorder.

 

JUSTIFIER: Knew she was an undesirable the moment I came through the door. But you know. Paperwork.

 

He walks away. He doesn't see Barda take her Mega-Rod out, doesn't pay attention as it slips from her trembling fingers and hits the ground. Barda's lips form the word "wait," but no sound comes out. In a moment, she's alone.

 

INT. MINE – MUCH LATER

 

Scott's been given a new work-detail, even lower on the totem pole. Mining. A chain tied around his waist and leading back up the mineshaft, he works a rock with a pick-ax. A klaxon sounds. He steps away and a great vacuum takes over, sucking the minerals he and the others have uncovered back up the shaft. In the brief interval, another MINER collapses. His chain reels him up the shaft, literally raking him over the coals.

 

Scott watches, then the klaxon sounds again. Back to work. He viciously attacks the rock, the frustration pouring off him.

 

EXT. ARACHNATERIA – STILL LATER

 

The ARACHNATERIA is a giant mechanical spider with a thousand legs, each with a miner chained to it. It's brought them all in to eat while the excavation is continued with explosives. Underneath its shadow, Scott collects his lunch. No pills down here. He gets a bowl full of what looks like an oversized, liquefied cockroach. He sits down, too lost in thought to touch his food or even notice how disgusting it is. Something's changed in him. There's a new resolve growing.

 

SCOTT: Has anyone ever heard of Earth?

 

MINER: (re: bug soup) Is that what this is?

 

BOOM! A blast takes the side off the mountain they're coring. The debris flies out like a sandstorm, hitting the close-by Arachnateria. They're all instantaneously covered in dust, food and all. Scott doesn't notice. Appearing out of the storm like a ghost is BARDA. She stands nearby, not ramrod straight for the first time. Bowed. Scott gets up.

 

MINER: Her I do know. She was hiding an unregistered.

 

SCOTT: And?

 

MINER: And they found an unregistered. You want my advice? She needs to be alone.

 

SCOTT: No, she doesn't.

 

He walks through the settling dust, careful to keep his chain from tangling with dozens of others—more tragicomic bullshit to put up with. Finally coming up alongside her. She's a statue.

 

SCOTT: I heard about the girl. I'm sorry.

 

BARDA: I believe you actually are.

 

SCOTT: Are you okay?

 

Barda turns her words over like she's trying to solve a puzzle.

 

BARDA: I had so much. The rank. The armor. The weapons. I live in a castle, Scott.

 

SCOTT: They demoted you?

 

BARDA: No. No, I still lead the Furies. I just can't stop thinking… by every rational standard I know, she was useless. I keep telling myself that. And I keep _answering_ that she made me stronger.

 

SCOTT: Like she was a part of you. You needed her to be whole.

 

BARDA: All the trappings… they're nothing. I had nothing but Auralie. And this place took her. They just… made her gone.

 

Scott doesn't know what he's doing. No one on Apokolips would know what he's doing. But as he reaches out and takes her hand… it just feels right.

 

Barda's face, once on the verge of tears, sets.

 

BARDA: I can't do this anymore.

 

Scott tries to pull his hand back, but she holds onto it. He's shocked. She looks at him for the first time.

 

BARDA: I can't keep fighting for this place. I can't keep hurting people. (beat) Take me with you.

 

SCOTT: What?

 

BARDA: You heard me.

 

SCOTT: Like, right now? Just… leave?

 

BARDA: You'll need a Father Box. I have one. Where do you want to go?

 

SCOTT: Anywhere, everywhere—I don't… (beat) Earth.

 

In one swift stroke, Barda draws her Mega-Rod and breaks the chain anchoring Scott to the Arachnateria.

 

BARDA: Scott Free. You'll need a new ironic nickname.

 

INT. BARRACKS – TIMELESS

 

Scott is in shock as Barda leads him through her headquarters. They pass an Overseer, who looks at Scott suspiciously.

 

OVERSEER: What's he…

 

Barda simply grabs his head and smashes it against the wall.

 

SCOTT: Holy shit! (beat) You cannot do that when we get to Earth, I mean it…

 

BARDA: Step lively.

 

INT. BARRACKS – CONTROL ROOM – TIMELESS

 

A hellishly sophisticated command and control unit, manned at present by one lonely ANALYST. He pulls off headphones playing the "Darkseid Is" song as our two fugitives enter.

 

ANALYST: (re: Scott) Who's he and—

 

SCOTT: Don’t ask, man, trust me.

 

Barda opens a locker full of FATHER BOXES, grabs one at random, tosses it to Scott.

 

ANALYST: What are you doing?

 

BARDA: (approaching him) I'm forsaking every oath I've ever taken, betraying my homeworld, and abandoning my post. (beat) Also, I'm hitting you.

  
She conks him on the head. He's out cold. That done, she jabs her Mega-Rod into a port at the Analyst's console. Lights start flickering.

 

SCOTT: (programming Father Box) So, aside from all that, what _are_ you doing?

 

BARDA: This base has a complement of twenty-four Hellspore-class bombs. I'm setting them to go off. At once.

 

SCOTT: Won't the blast radius on that be, like—

 

BARDA: Earth is far away, isn't it?

 

SCOTT: (working harder) I really hope so.

 

Through a window, we can see the BOMB BAY. Barda looks out at the gargantuan, hellish-looking WARHEADS coming to a boil.

 

BARDA: They took from me the only thing I truly cared about. And all they care about is power. So that's what I'll take from them.

 

SCOTT: (working really hard) You say something? (looks up from Father Box) This thing is a little complicated… when you'd set the bombs to go off?

 

BARDA: One minute.

  
SCOTT: Oh. (funny little laugh) That's not very long.

 

He spins the chair he's sitting in back toward the entrance as he works—only to see GUARDSMEN approaching. They open fire. He dives behind a free-standing console, loses the Father Box in the fall. It slides behind another console, but Scott can't get to it, pinned down by the Guardsmen's fire.

 

For Barda, the firefight is like being caught in a hailstorm. She turns around. A look of absolute hatred on her face.

 

BARDA: You… MURDERERS.

 

She thrust the Mega-Rod forward like she's stabbing someone and FIRES. A Guardsman practically DISSOLVES.

 

BARDA: BUTCHERS!

 

She walks forward, firing. The concentrated fire is enough to even affect her, ripping her armor, bloodying her skin, but she doesn't notice or care. Very steadily, she shoots Apokoliptians dead.

 

BARDA: MONSTERS…

 

Scott pushes a rolling chair out of cover and it's instantly blown apart. Not good.

 

SCOTT: Uh, Barda? Little help?

 

She doesn't hear him. Her Mega-Rod clicks empty. She swings it into a console, sending the computer flying through the doorway and into her enemy.

 

SCOTT: That was impressive and all, but I'd really not like to be here when YOUR giant explosion happens!

 

Walking by him, she nonchalantly punts the Father Box over. Scott catches it, inches from smashing his nose in, and swears under his breath even as he continues work on reprogramming it.

 

The Guardsmen are surging in. Barda meets them head-on, one woman against a riot, and physically PUSHES the mob back through the door. Every elbow, fist, and knee breaks bones.

 

SCOTT: Think I got it!

 

He booms open a portal. It leads to MARS.

 

SCOTT: Close…

 

The Guardsmen pile on Barda, burying her under their numbers—and Barda explodes out of them like a living mushroom cloud, sending them flying in all directions. One soars over Scott as he tries the Father Box again. This time, the Boomtube shows us a city at night, lit up like shining jewelry. Earth. Scott is awestruck.

 

SCOTT: Yes. (beat) Barda, let's go.

 

He looks back. Barda isn't listening. A steady stream of Guardsmen are coming at her and she's knocking them all aside.

 

BARDA: Come on! COME ON!

 

She picks up the next Guardsman and uses HIM as a weapon, swinging him into every oncoming Guardsmen as her speech degenerates into an inarticulate roar. Pure anger. Pure pain.

 

SCOTT: Barda!

 

He looks at the tempting portal—the bombs glowing white-hot—then clicks the Father Box.

 

The Boomtube CLOSES with seconds on the clock.

 

Barda's run out of Guardsmen. She's just slamming her weaponized enemy onto the ground, again and again, choking on a sream, as Scott runs up to her and GRABS HER in a bearhug. She wheels on him, fist cocked to strike, but Scott aims the Father Box DOWN and opens a Boomtube BELOW THEM.

 

They fall through just as the window to the bomb bay SHATTERS.

 

EXT. EARTH – NIGHT

 

Scott and Barda land in a heap on the grass. Through the portal, Apokolips turns white. Scott shuts the Boomtube just in time, with only a whiff of flame escaping through onto Earth.

 

It sets a tree on fire.

 

In the light, we can see they're in the middle of nowhere. But WHAT nowhere. Grass, trees, a starry sky, a full moon… it's perfect. Scott just lies on the grass, soaking it in. He's never felt grass before.

 

Barda stares into the flame. Scott doesn't see it reveal the tears in her eyes.

 

BARDA: Goodbye Auralie.


	5. Chapter 5

EXT. BARRACKS – TIMELESS

 

Establishing shot. A battalion of Foebots marches by.

 

INT. BARRACKS – DESERTED CORNER – TIMELESS

 

Barda securely locks the door to this small room behind her before going to an air vent and popping the cover off.

 

BARDA: It's safe. Come out.

 

Auralie comes out. She's grown into a woman, pretty and doll-like child, and seems impossible after all the ugliness we've seen.

 

AURALIE: Auntie Barda! I saw a rat today, and followed it around, and then it followed me around…

 

From her voice, Auralie is off in her own little world, and doesn't come back often. Barda shuts her down, not good at this naked human contact.

 

BARDA: I brought you something.

 

She hands out a parcel. Auralie rips it open to finds the doll from the Elder's planet inside. It's spoils of war, still with a few bullet holes in it, but Auralie immediately hugs it in glee.

 

Happy she's happy, Barda sits down against the wall, taking off her helmet and at last allowing herself to unclench. She looks close to tears. Auralie, of course, notices.

 

AURALIE: What's wrong, Auntie? Did something bad happen to today?

 

BARDA: Yes.

 

AURALIE: You shouldn't cry though. Why cry if it wasn't your fault? It wasn't your fault, was it?

 

BARDA: No. It was his.

 

Unsatisfied with her own response, Barda stands. She towers over Auralie.

 

BARDA: Do you remember your mother?

 

AURALIE: (easily) No.

 

BARDA: She was a Female Fury—like me. When she died, she made me promise to protect you. We're not supposed to make babies the way you were made. It's dangerous. It's… against Darkseid's wishes.

 

Auralie is playing with her doll now, dancing with it.

 

BARDA: Auralie, listen to me! It's not… legal for you to live like this. Soon, I'll have to enlist you in the army. We should've done it already. I need to know you can be a soldier. Can you? Can you _belong_?

 

AURALIE: (simply) I belong with you.

 

The door blows suddenly—Foebots crowd in, led by a JUSTIFIER (Darkseid's field commanders). Barda is instantly shielding Auralie from them. Freeze. It's like a nightmare, Barda's poker face good but not that good as she takes it in. Auralie peeks out from behind Barda's leg. Then, the Justifier speaks.

 

JUSTIFIER: Date: Darkseid's reign year one thousand thirteen, location: Female Furies barracks, planetary sector delta, grid coordinates…

 

He's already filling out the report.

 

BARDA: What are you doing here? Is this your assignment?

 

The Justifier gestures to the Foebots: "get on with it." They pass Barda right by, almost politely, and pick up Auralie. Barda's fists clench, but she can't bring herself to do anything.

 

BARDA: I am leader of the Female Furies, I demand to know what's in operation!

 

The Justifier gives her a look. He pointedly continues the verbal report.

 

JUSTIFIER: Occurrence: investigation of reported unregistered youth…

 

BARDA: (bluffing badly) She's not unregistered, she's in the system, you've made a mistake.

 

JUSTIFIER: Suitability for enlistment summarily determined at twenty-one-hundred-hours. Scans indicate substandard mental capacity and genetic abnormality, rendering subject unfit for service.

 

BARDA: Your scanners aren't calibrated properly, I insist… I _demand_ you run them again!

 

JUSTIFIER: Subject taken to base for continued testing and subsequent decision-making.

 

BARDA: (defeated) Her name is Auralie.

 

Auralie is taken away, trying to make friends with the two Foebots and their firm grip on her hands.

 

BARDA: (marshalling) I'll need to see her. She doesn't understand this now, but she'll be scared later, (babbling now) I can calm her down, it'll make the testing easier, she'll probably score off the charts.

 

A gunshot. Barda stops cold. Doesn't wince, doesn't blink, but everything there is to her goes black.

 

AURALIE: (O.S.) Mommy…

 

The Justifier turns off his recorder.

 

JUSTIFIER: Knew she was an undesirable the moment I came through the door. But you know. Paperwork.

 

He walks away. He doesn't see Barda take her Mega-Rod out, doesn't pay attention as it slips from her trembling fingers and hits the ground. Barda's lips form the word "wait," but no sound comes out. In a moment, she's alone.

 

INT. MINE – MUCH LATER

 

Scott's been given a new work-detail, even lower on the totem pole. Mining. A chain tied around his waist and leading back up the mineshaft, he works a rock with a pick-ax. A klaxon sounds. He steps away and a great vacuum takes over, sucking the minerals he and the others have uncovered back up the shaft. In the brief interval, another MINER collapses. His chain reels him up the shaft, literally raking him over the coals.

 

Scott watches, then the klaxon sounds again. Back to work. He viciously attacks the rock, the frustration pouring off him.

 

EXT. ARACHNATERIA – STILL LATER

 

The ARACHNATERIA is a giant mechanical spider with a thousand legs, each with a miner chained to it. It's brought them all in to eat while the excavation is continued with explosives. Underneath its shadow, Scott collects his lunch. No pills down here. He gets a bowl full of what looks like an oversized, liquefied cockroach. He sits down, too lost in thought to touch his food or even notice how disgusting it is. Something's changed in him. There's a new resolve growing.

 

SCOTT: Has anyone ever heard of Earth?

 

MINER: (re: bug soup) Is that what this is?

 

BOOM! A blast takes the side off the mountain they're coring. The debris flies out like a sandstorm, hitting the close-by Arachnateria. They're all instantaneously covered in dust, food and all. Scott doesn't notice. Appearing out of the storm like a ghost is BARDA. She stands nearby, not ramrod straight for the first time. Bowed. Scott gets up.

 

MINER: Her I do know. She was hiding an unregistered.

 

SCOTT: And?

 

MINER: And they found an unregistered. You want my advice? She needs to be alone.

 

SCOTT: No, she doesn't.

 

He walks through the settling dust, careful to keep his chain from tangling with dozens of others—more tragicomic bullshit to put up with. Finally coming up alongside her. She's a statue.

 

SCOTT: I heard about the girl. I'm sorry.

 

BARDA: I believe you actually are.

 

SCOTT: Are you okay?

 

Barda turns her words over like she's trying to solve a puzzle.

 

BARDA: I had so much. The rank. The armor. The weapons. I live in a castle, Scott.

 

SCOTT: They demoted you?

 

BARDA: No. No, I still lead the Furies. I just can't stop thinking… by every rational standard I know, she was useless. I keep telling myself that. And I keep _answering_ that she made me stronger.

 

SCOTT: Like she was a part of you. You needed her to be whole.

 

BARDA: All the trappings… they're nothing. I had nothing but Auralie. And this place took her. They just… made her gone.

 

Scott doesn't know what he's doing. No one on Apokolips would know what he's doing. But as he reaches out and takes her hand… it just feels right.

 

Barda's face, once on the verge of tears, sets.

 

BARDA: I can't do this anymore.

 

Scott tries to pull his hand back, but she holds onto it. He's shocked. She looks at him for the first time.

 

BARDA: I can't keep fighting for this place. I can't keep hurting people. (beat) Take me with you.

 

SCOTT: What?

 

BARDA: You heard me.

 

SCOTT: Like, right now? Just… leave?

 

BARDA: You'll need a Father Box. I have one. Where do you want to go?

 

SCOTT: Anywhere, everywhere—I don't… (beat) Earth.

 

In one swift stroke, Barda draws her Mega-Rod and breaks the chain anchoring Scott to the Arachnateria.

 

BARDA: Scott Free. You'll need a new ironic nickname.

 

INT. BARRACKS – TIMELESS

 

Scott is in shock as Barda leads him through her headquarters. They pass an Overseer, who looks at Scott suspiciously.

 

OVERSEER: What's he…

 

Barda simply grabs his head and smashes it against the wall.

 

SCOTT: Holy shit! (beat) You cannot do that when we get to Earth, I mean it…

 

BARDA: Step lively.

 

INT. BARRACKS – CONTROL ROOM – TIMELESS

 

A hellishly sophisticated command and control unit, manned at present by one lonely ANALYST. He pulls off headphones playing the "Darkseid Is" song as our two fugitives enter.

 

ANALYST: (re: Scott) Who's he and—

 

SCOTT: Don’t ask, man, trust me.

 

Barda opens a locker full of FATHER BOXES, grabs one at random, tosses it to Scott.

 

ANALYST: What are you doing?

 

BARDA: (approaching him) I'm forsaking every oath I've ever taken, betraying my homeworld, and abandoning my post. (beat) Also, I'm hitting you.

  
She conks him on the head. He's out cold. That done, she jabs her Mega-Rod into a port at the Analyst's console. Lights start flickering.

 

SCOTT: (programming Father Box) So, aside from all that, what _are_ you doing?

 

BARDA: This base has a complement of twenty-four Hellspore-class bombs. I'm setting them to go off. At once.

 

SCOTT: Won't the blast radius on that be, like—

 

BARDA: Earth is far away, isn't it?

 

SCOTT: (working harder) I really hope so.

 

Through a window, we can see the BOMB BAY. Barda looks out at the gargantuan, hellish-looking WARHEADS coming to a boil.

 

BARDA: They took from me the only thing I truly cared about. And all they care about is power. So that's what I'll take from them.

 

SCOTT: (working really hard) You say something? (looks up from Father Box) This thing is a little complicated… when you'd set the bombs to go off?

 

BARDA: One minute.

  
SCOTT: Oh. (funny little laugh) That's not very long.

 

He spins the chair he's sitting in back toward the entrance as he works—only to see GUARDSMEN approaching. They open fire. He dives behind a free-standing console, loses the Father Box in the fall. It slides behind another console, but Scott can't get to it, pinned down by the Guardsmen's fire.

 

For Barda, the firefight is like being caught in a hailstorm. She turns around. A look of absolute hatred on her face.

 

BARDA: You… MURDERERS.

 

She thrust the Mega-Rod forward like she's stabbing someone and FIRES. A Guardsman practically DISSOLVES.

 

BARDA: BUTCHERS!

 

She walks forward, firing. The concentrated fire is enough to even affect her, ripping her armor, bloodying her skin, but she doesn't notice or care. Very steadily, she shoots Apokoliptians dead.

 

BARDA: MONSTERS…

 

Scott pushes a rolling chair out of cover and it's instantly blown apart. Not good.

 

SCOTT: Uh, Barda? Little help?

 

She doesn't hear him. Her Mega-Rod clicks empty. She swings it into a console, sending the computer flying through the doorway and into her enemy.

 

SCOTT: That was impressive and all, but I'd really not like to be here when YOUR giant explosion happens!

 

Walking by him, she nonchalantly punts the Father Box over. Scott catches it, inches from smashing his nose in, and swears under his breath even as he continues work on reprogramming it.

 

The Guardsmen are surging in. Barda meets them head-on, one woman against a riot, and physically PUSHES the mob back through the door. Every elbow, fist, and knee breaks bones.

 

SCOTT: Think I got it!

 

He booms open a portal. It leads to MARS.

 

SCOTT: Close…

 

The Guardsmen pile on Barda, burying her under their numbers—and Barda explodes out of them like a living mushroom cloud, sending them flying in all directions. One soars over Scott as he tries the Father Box again. This time, the Boomtube shows us a city at night, lit up like shining jewelry. Earth. Scott is awestruck.

 

SCOTT: Yes. (beat) Barda, let's go.

 

He looks back. Barda isn't listening. A steady stream of Guardsmen are coming at her and she's knocking them all aside.

 

BARDA: Come on! COME ON!

 

She picks up the next Guardsman and uses HIM as a weapon, swinging him into every oncoming Guardsmen as her speech degenerates into an inarticulate roar. Pure anger. Pure pain.

 

SCOTT: Barda!

 

He looks at the tempting portal—the bombs glowing white-hot—then clicks the Father Box.

 

The Boomtube CLOSES with seconds on the clock.

 

Barda's run out of Guardsmen. She's just slamming her weaponized enemy onto the ground, again and again, choking on a sream, as Scott runs up to her and GRABS HER in a bearhug. She wheels on him, fist cocked to strike, but Scott aims the Father Box DOWN and opens a Boomtube BELOW THEM.

 

They fall through just as the window to the bomb bay SHATTERS.

 

EXT. EARTH – NIGHT

 

Scott and Barda land in a heap on the grass. Through the portal, Apokolips turns white. Scott shuts the Boomtube just in time, with only a whiff of flame escaping through onto Earth.

 

It sets a tree on fire.

 

In the light, we can see they're in the middle of nowhere. But WHAT nowhere. Grass, trees, a starry sky, a full moon… it's perfect. Scott just lies on the grass, soaking it in. He's never felt grass before.

 

Barda stares into the flame. Scott doesn't see it reveal the tears in her eyes.

 

BARDA: Goodbye Auralie.


	6. Chapter 6

EXT. EARTH – LATER

 

The tree's burned down. Smoke curdles off it. Barda and Scott are fetal position opposite each other. Neither really expected to make it.

 

SCOTT: Do you smell that?

 

BARDA: What?

 

SCOTT: The air here. (beat) It's the way air's supposed to be.

 

BARDA: We should get moving. As soon as they're operational again, they'll come looking for us.

 

SCOTT: (might as well be high) You wanna go for a walk?

 

EXT. FOREST – NIGHT

 

They walk on a path between a treeline and a steep incline. Barda has to pull Scott along. He wants to look at everything. Finally, he settles for pulling a leaf off a tree and examining it as they go.

 

SCOTT: Plant life, Barda! Actual plant life! There hasn't been any on Apokolips in millennia, but here… Do you think the whole planet is like this?

 

BARDA: Darkseid's eyes, I hope not.

 

SCOTT: This doesn't impress you? (waves leaf in front of her face) _This_ doesn't impress you?

 

BARDA: I've seen it before. On missions.

 

SCOTT: (downer) Oh, right. Missions.

 

BARDA: (expected this) I did my job, Scott. I'm not going to apologize for what was expected of me…

 

Scott stops. There's something golden on the horizon. Scott regards it suspiciously, but his mistrust becomes pure wonder as THE SUN RISES. The man is absolutely dumbstruck. Barda has to shield his eyes for him.

 

He falls to his knees. Barda moves to pick him up, then crouches down beside him.

 

SCOTT: On all your missions… in all your life… have you ever seen anything like this?

 

BARDA: No. (honestly) I never looked.

 

EXT. FOREST – MID-DAY

 

They walk. The sun is beating down on them, but neither of them pay much attention to it. Scott is like a kid on Christmas morning. He spots a DEER and keeps jockeying for a view of it as they go, while Barda rattles off evasion techniques.

 

BARDA: Scott? Scott!

 

She grabs him by the hair and pulls him along.

 

BARDA: We're making good time, but that won't be the case if we stop for every furry animal in the woods!

 

SCOTT: You can let go of my hair now.

 

BARDA: I'm good.

 

SCOTT: (distracted) Hey! Would you look at that…

 

He pokes a NERVE in her wrist and she lets him go, discovering as he runs off that her hand is STUCK in its clenched position. Disgruntled, she walks after him.

 

EXT. WATERING HOLE – MORNING

 

A picturesque lake. Lily-pads, everything. Totally abandoned. Scott dips his hands in it, washes them off, sees their true color for the first time he can remember. Barda follows him to the shore, massaging the feeling back into her hand, fingers flexing.

 

BARDA: How'd you do that?

 

SCOTT: Try to escape enough times, you get good at it. (re: water) This is cold. It's cold.

 

Barda points the Father Box at it.

 

BARDA: Scans say it's safe to… (sees Scott is already ladling it into her mouth) drink.

 

Pulling a collapsible flask from her belt, Barda telescopes it out, dips it in the lake, and brings it to her lips to sip cautiously.

 

SCOTT: You don't have to pretend. It tastes great!

 

Hands cupped together, he scoops quarts of water down his throat, splashing it across his face and neck. Then he just rams his head underwater.

 

BARDA: Finally. Quiet.

 

Scott pulls his head up, shakes like a dog, and backs up.

 

BARDA: (assumes the worst) What's in there?

 

SCOTT: Nothing. That's the point.

 

He takes a running start and JUMPS INTO the pond. Comes up like an Olympic swimmer that just won first place, arms in the air.

 

SCOTT: Yes! (to Barda) Come on in, this is great! It's all… watery!

 

BARDA: I'm good. (beat) Dry.

 

SCOTT: (struggling out of wet clothes) Have it your way.

 

He throws his clothes ashore and sinks back beneath the water. Bubbles come up. Barda watches. With no one around to see, concern crests her face.

 

BARDA: Darkseid's balls!

 

She's taking off her cape to go in after him when Scott surfaces, crying out gleefully. Barda drops her cape on the ground.

 

EXT. WATERING HOLE – LATER

 

Scott, stripped down to trunks, has exhausted himself. He lies on Barda's cape, spread out like a beach blanket, as Barda stitches up her armor with some advanced tool. Her wounds have already healed.

 

SCOTT: (eyes closed) I'm never going back. Never.

 

BARDA: That's the plan.

 

SCOTT: Anyway, I've got this one thing to do… find some Mr. Miracle. I kinda promised a dead guy I'd do it. I might need some help with that. By then, I guess we'll have this Earth business down. You can go do whatever.

 

BARDA: And what are you gonna do?

 

SCOTT: (yawning) Everything I couldn't do back home.

 

With his eyes closed, Barda smiles fondly. As strong as her immune system is, his enthusiasm is infectious.

 

BARDA: And what do we need Mr. Miracle for?

 

SCOTT: He knows where something's hidden, something Darkseid wants. I said I'd destroy it. Well, I didn't say, but he got that impression… it's like his dying wish or something. Anyway, you wanna get back at Apokolips, I think that'll work out better than a protest song.

 

BARDA: (pitch black) Oh yes.

 

SCOTT: I'm gonna catch some shuteye here. See you in three hours.

 

She rolls her eyes.

 

EXT. WATERING HOLE – THREE HOURS LATER

 

It's evening. Much nicer climate to be walking in. Barda looks at Scott like she's stunned at his laziness in still being asleep. She reaches out to wake him up—and stops. There's a ghost of a smile on his face.

 

It's the first time Barda has realized how happy he is.

 

She realizes her hand's still poised inches from his face, like she's going to touch him. She withdraws it and leans against a nearby rock.

 

BARDA: (sarcastic or maybe not) Enjoy your dreaming.

 

EXT. WATERING HOLE – NIGHT

 

Still more hours later. Barda is still against the rock, eyes closed, meditative. She opens her eyes.

 

And sees Auralie lying where Scott was, A PALE CORPSE.

 

EXT. WATERING HOLE – FOR REAL THIS TIME

 

Barda snaps awake. She drifted off. Shaking herself for her lack of discipline, she looks around. In the moonlight, the place has a wholly different kind of beauty, one that seems to suit her as much as the daylight suits Scott. The water looks cool and inviting.

 

Barda begins to strip.

 

EXT. WATERING HOLE – MOMENTS LATER

 

Her armor neatly folded at Scott's side, Barda walks into the water. She's already up to her chest, presumably nude underneath. If it hasn't occurred to us before, it does now; she's quite lovely. Barda raises her arm, covered in dried blood, and rubs at it until it's clear. She regards the muscle, the power there, and brings it down on the water with a hard splash. Laughs to herself at the impact, then claps her hand over her mouth, as worried as you or I would be if we suddenly had a seizure.

 

Relaxing, she lets herself fall beneath the waves of her own attack.

 

EXT. WATERING HOLE – LATER

 

Pulling her glove, the last of her armor, back into position, Barda is once more the invincible warrior. She lays down across from Scott, that stupid grin still on his face, and closes her eyes.

 

EXT. WATERING HOLE – MORNING

 

Barda is awoken by the sound of Scott wringing out his shirt. He's cleaning his clothes on the rocks, Boy Scout style, and doing a good job of it. From the waist down (he's already done his trousers), he's halfway presentable. In fact, well-rested and exposed to natural light for the first time, our heroes are starting to look tan and healthy.

 

BARDA: You're awake. (beat) Finally.

  
SCOTT: Looks who's talking. I had time to catch us rations.

 

Barda looks over to see that Scott's built a CAMPFIRE, some fish roasting on it.

 

BARDA: Why didn't you wake me? I could've found us prey.

 

SCOTT: Aww, you look too cute when you're asleep.

 

Barda scowls uncomfortably at his reasoning being so close to her own.

 

EXT. WATERING HOLE – LATER

 

They eat, Scott back in his not-quite-so-nasty clothes. Barda takes big bites, used to full meals, while Scott makes it last—used to small portions. After a little bit, he follows her lead, savoring the meat. Then Barda, who's just gulping her bites down, sees him getting into the meal. She follows suit, eating slowly, letting the flavor wash over her.

 

BARDA: Where'd you learn to do this?

 

SCOTT: Slaves on Apokolips don't get the same rations as warriors. That's why they call us Hunger Dogs. We need to cheat on our diet a bit to stay alive. And keep others alive.

 

BARDA: Others?

 

SCOTT: Some Dogs get punished by having their food taken away. Me and a few others, we snuck them food. It wasn't much, but… sometimes 'not much' makes all the difference.

 

Barda is reminded of Auralie. The thought is unbearable. She stomps the fire out.

 

BARDA: We need to keep moving.


	7. Chapter 7

EXT. HIGHWAY – DAY

 

Barda and Scott have come to the great American blacktop. They watch, befuddled, as cars speed past in both directions.

 

SCOTT: (looking one way) Huh. (looking other way) Huh. (to Barda) What do you make of this?

 

BARDA: (Nam flashback) On Verrax 7, there were great beasts twisted together with cybernetic parts. Bears with metal teeth. Lions flying on steel wings. I saw men and women cut down like lambs led to the…

 

An 18-WHEELER pulls up, mistaking them for hitchhikers. The driver, affable JERRY, waves to them.

 

JERRY: Need a ride?

 

SCOTT: Yes.

 

BARDA: No.

 

SCOTT: (sotto voce) We're looking for people. I think he's most likely headed in a people direction.

 

BARDA: (sotto voce) Since when are we looking for people?

 

SCOTT: (sotto voce) I don't think 'Mr. Miracle' is the name of a pig.

 

He climbs in. Growling to herself, Barda follows him in. And they're off.

 

JERRY: Y'know, for young'uns, you two fight like an old married couple!

 

SCOTT: (doesn't know the word) Married…

 

BARDA: If you mean to say we're having sexual relations, we're not.

 

JERRY: (to himself) Yup, definitely married.

 

INT. 18-WHEELER – LATER

 

Jerry has the windows down. Scott cautiously pokes his fingers out into the slipstream, then yanks them back, then tries again…

 

JERRY: So, if you don't mind me asking… what's the deal with the threads?

 

SCOTT: Threads? (happy to be of help) Oh, they're a thin yarn used for sewing.

 

JERRY: No, I mean your clothes. It's just not exactly standard-issue, is it?

 

BARDA: (indignant) It certainly is!

 

JERRY: Oh, I gotcha. You bought 'em at one of those Halloween stores.

 

SCOTT: (playing along) Yeah.

 

JERRY: Maybe on your way to a costume party when your car broke down?

 

SCOTT: (agreeable) That's it.

 

JERRY: And you're real high right now, aren't you?

 

SCOTT: (why not?) Precisely.

 

Jerry turns up the radio. The GRATEFUL DEAD plays. Scott stares at the speakers in wonder, which isn't exactly helping his case.

 

INT. 18-WHEELER – LATER

 

They're going through a fast food drive-thru. Jerry pays and Barda surreptitiously snaps a photo of the currency exchange with the Father Box. Scott is bemusedly handled a Big Mac. Over, we hear a private conversation.

 

BARDA: (V.O.) Behind enemy lines in hostile territory. First priority: infiltrate native population. Second priority: obtain shelter. Third priority: obtain sustenance.

 

EXT. TOWN – DAY

 

Your basic small, Middle-American town. We watch as Scott and Barda disembark, Scott waving goodbye to Jerry, Barda stomping away.

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) This isn't hostile territory, Barda.

 

BARDA: (V.O.) All territory is to be considered hostile until proven otherwise.

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) You mean conquered.

 

BARDA: (V.O.) Yes.

 

INT. GOODWILL STORE – DAY

 

With a dinging bell that puts Barda on the defensive, the two enter. A cheery SHOPKEEPER greets them.

 

SHOPKEEPER: Hello there, welcome to Goodwill! Need help finding anything?

 

BARDA: We need native garments of contemporary fashion—

 

SCOTT: (over her) We need some threads.

 

SHOPKEEPER: Oh. Okay.

 

Scott winks at Barda. He's got this.

 

SCOTT: We got our clothes from a Halloween store and our car broke down while we were on the way to a costume party. Also, we're very high.

 

SHOPKEEPER: (fake smile) Alright! Our clothing section is this way.

 

They follow her, Scott triumphantly elbowing Barda in the ribs.

 

SCOTT: (sotto voce) "Native population infiltrated, sir!"

 

INT. GOODWILL STORE – CHANGING ROOM – DAY

 

Scott stuffs his drab gray clothes in a waste bin. He's now wearing an eclectic mix of GREEN, YELLOW, and RED. It's eccentric, but it actually looks good on him. He stares at himself in a mirror. Tries popping his collar. Nah. Even for an alien, that's too much.

 

SCOTT: (calls out) Barda, how're we doing?

 

She steps out, wearing the only dress that could fit her statuesque frame. A MUUMUU. Scott tries desperately not to laugh.

 

BARDA: It's not too late to go back to Apokolips, is it?

 

Scott gestures for the nearby SHOPKEEPER to assist them.

 

SCOTT: Maybe something from the men's department?

 

INT. GOODWILL STORE – DAY

 

In the check-out lane, they pay for the clothes they're wearing. Barda is now in a black BUSINESS SUIT that fits her to a tee. She adjusts the tie, a chick James Bond. Her armor incongruously sticks out of a shopping bag.

 

SHOPKEEPER: Alright, that'll be two hundred dollars and forty-seven cents.

 

SCOTT: Oh… would you accept my old clothes in trade? They don't look like much, but they were woven by silk-snakes from Rigel 4 and are actually impervious to flame…

 

Behind Barda's back, she has the Father Box in hand. It prints out a stack of bills, identical to the ones Jerry paid with right down to the dog-ears and tears. She presents them to the Shopkeeper.

 

BARDA: Will this cover it?

 

EXT. GOODWILL STORE – DAY

 

They walk away, Scott carrying Barda's bag.

 

BARDA: Capitalism-based culture, currency-based economy. _Now_ we've infiltrated the local population.

 

SCOTT: Unlimited funds—that takes care of food and shelter then. What now?

 

BARDA: Don't ask me. It's your operation—I'm just the muscle.

 

They're on the sidewalk. People are passing by. Scott stops one.

 

SCOTT: Hey, excuse me, have you heard of Mr. Miracle?

 

PASSERBY: What is that that, a cleaning product?

 

SCOTT: (another) I beg your pardon, I'm looking for Mr. Miracle…

 

ANOTHER PASSERBY: I'm not into the drug scene.

 

SCOTT: (tries again) Do you know anything about Mr. Miracle?

 

THIRD PASSERBY: Try Wikipedia, asshole.

 

While all this has been going on, Barda has been scanning her surroundings. There's a library across the street. A big BANNER reads "The library is your source for knowledge!"

 

BARDA: Come on.

 

They cross the street, regardless of the traffic light. A car gets into a fender-bender with Barda. She walks away.

 

INT. LIBRARY – DAY

 

Imagination and stuff. Barda over his shoulder, Scott sits at a computer, types "WIKIPEDIA ASSHOLE" into the browser window. Enter. A Wikipedia page on the human asshole comes up on the search engine. Scott clicks it. The result is off-screen.

 

SCOTT: Eww.

 

BARDA: Type in "Mr. Miracle." M-I-S-T…

 

SCOTT: (typing) Father Box is translating the language for me the same as you.

 

A Wikipedia article comes up. Scott clicks it. Face falls.

 

SCOTT: He's… dead.

 

Barda, trying to cheer him, points to a side-bar.

 

BARDA: But according to this, there's one weird old trick you can use to lose weight…


	8. Chapter 8

EXT. TAXI CAB – DAY

 

The duo are ferried along, Scott now fearlessly holding his hand out the window.

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) Okay, so Mr. Miracle was the 'stage name' of an 'escape artist' in the '1950s'. They say he could escape from two hundred pounds of chains in six seconds.

 

BARDA: (V.O.) Distant relation, perhaps?

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) Don't joke. He died several years ago, but his assistant Oberon is still alive, running a magic shop just a few miles from here. Maybe he knows something.

 

INT. TAXI CAB – DAY

 

They reach their destination. Barda carelessly hands more money than we'll ever hold to the CABBIE.

 

BARDA: Keep the change.

 

He replies with a string of gibberish, which our heroes bewilderingly understand.

 

SCOTT: Where'd a human learn Daxamese?

 

Barda shrugs.

 

EXT. MAGIC SHOP – DAY

 

A rundown-looking joint. It's a wonder you can't cash checks there. On the roof, an animatronic MAGICIAN feebly attempts to pull a rabbit out of his hat, but it comes off looking more like he's trying to unplug a toilet. Scott heads for the entrance, but Barda stops him.

 

BARDA: So… we teleport to a random location on Earth, and it just so happens to be within a day's ride of your contact? How do you explain that?

 

SCOTT: I don’t know… destiny?

 

BARDA: (scoffs) Let me tell you about destiny. I was destined to bring together the Anti-Life Equation and present it to great Darkseid, upon which I would stand at his side forever as he ruled the universe. Now I'm not. Destiny.

 

SCOTT: So, what, you think it's a trap?

 

BARDA: I think everything's a trap until proven otherwise.

 

SCOTT: Barda, c'mon, fifteen minutes ago we were in a store _named_ Goodwill. Earth isn't like Apokolips. It's not like we're going to go in there and find a bunch of trained killers there.

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – DAY

 

The place looks more like a pawn store with a theme than anything else. Desultory gag gifts and back-of-the-comic-book prank items line dusty shelves.

 

Barda and Scott enter. There are a bunch of TRAINED KILLERS there. Six gangsters in cheap suits, each with a distinguishing physical characteristic: SHADES, neck TATTOO, GLOVES, CRAVAT, HAT, and TASER, who is threatening with one. Their leader is STEEL HAND McCOY. The target is Oberon, an old man who tops out at four foot five. He's having one bad day, continuing a streak that's probably going for a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

 

STEEL HAND: Where's the money, Oberon?

 

OBERON: Your mom's chest hair!

 

Scott clears his throat while Barda subtly moves into place to protect him.

 

SCOTT: Excuse me… (points at Oberon) Oberon, right?

 

OBERON: Yes?

 

SCOTT: Hi, nice to meet you. Scott Free, this is Barda. Could we talk a moment?

 

STEEL HAND: He's a little busy.

 

SCOTT: It's urgent. If I could just…

 

Entirely heedless of the danger, he beg-pardons his way through the gangsters to help Oberon to his feet.

 

SCOTT: I'm really sorry to intrude, but this really is, y'know…

 

He makes a 'know what I mean?' kind of gesture.

 

STEEL HAND: Your little friend owes me a lot of money, asshole.

 

SCOTT: I'm not a—

 

BARDA: He's insulting you.

 

SCOTT: Oh, right, that was on the Wikipedia page, wasn't it? Well, I won't hold that against you.

 

He tosses the Father Box to Barda.

 

SCOTT: Could you sort this out while me and Oberon have a word, please?

 

BARDA: Absolutely.

 

SCOTT: Thanks.

 

He leads Oberon behind a curtain into the store's backroom. The gangsters regard Barda, who cracks her neck.

 

STEEL HAND: (lighting cigarette) So you're going to sort us out.

 

Gloves gets close, pokes Barda in the chest.

 

GLOVES: You gonna sort us all out at once, sweetheart, or will some of us have to wait in—

 

Barda grabs him by the throat, lifts him off his feet, scowls at him, and throws him OVER HER SHOULDER. He hits the ground sliding, through the door and out the shop. The bells on the door JANGLE.

 

Hat is next up. He throws a punch at Barda that breaks against her face. She conks him on the head, flattening his fedora, and steps out of the way as he stumbles past her, stunned. Out the door. Bells jangle.

 

BARDA: Two at a time works for me. I'm in a hurry.

 

TATTOO and CRAVAT come at her simultaneously—and Barda fights them that way, countering their punches each with one hand. She yawns, then coconut-crunches their heads together, spins them around to embrace behind her back, and mule-kicks them together through the door. Jangling bells.

 

SHADES is right on their heels, brass KNUCKLES on his fist. He throws a punch. Barda catches it. Squeezes. The knuckle dusters DEFORM like plastic in a microwave, pinching shut around his fingers. While Shades is shaking his hand, Barda gives him a slap on the back that propels him stumbling through the door. Bells jangle.

 

TASER hits Barda with the eponymous weapon. Barda stares down at it electrocuting her, then lays a hand on the man. The electricity flows right through her and into him. His teeth are chattering as she boots him through the door to the sound of jangling bells.

 

STEEL HAND: Enough of this!

 

He draws a GUN, puts it to the side of Barda's head, and FIRES. After a moment, she cants her head and slaps the side of it like she has water in her ear after swimming. The deformed slug pops out. Steel Hand is just fucking gobsmacked. He's motionless as Barda pries the gun out of his hand and gives it a twist.

 

BARDA: This is Earth weaponry, then? Lackluster by Apokolips standards, but effective enough. Easy to handle, in a primitive sort of way.

 

She aims it at Steel Hand's feet and fires. He jumps. She does it again, making him dance like a bandit in an old Western. He runs for the door, dancing all the way as she shoots at his feet. Bells.

 

Barda flips the sign on the door to CLOSED as Scott pops his head out.

 

SCOTT: Hey, Barda, Oberon says he heard something called a gun?

 

BARDA: Oh, is that what this is called? 'Gun.' Novel, but not much fun.

 

SCOTT: You know I just meant for you to pay them the money Oberon owed, right?

 

BARDA: That sounded like a complete waste of me being able to hurt them severely.

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – BACKROOM – DAY

 

The backroom is given over to merchandise that won't sell—an Egyptian sarcophagus, paintings that visibly track the trio with their eyes—cool stuff. There's all the debris of a MAGIC SHOW scattered around the broken merch. A Houdini-ish WATER CELL, a trick GUILLOTINE, a STRAITJACKET, etc. Posters advertise and show the various escape of MR. MIRACLE, a psychedelically-costumed figure in red, green, and yellow, with a cape and mask. He's pinned to a board by throwing knives, buried alive, tied to train tracks—always bursting free triumphantly.

 

Oberon gives Scott the tour while Barda, bored, fiddles with the gun.

 

OBERON: Mr. Miracle—never did like the name. Fantastico the Magnificent, now that's a magician name. No one ever listens to me…

 

SCOTT: So he was just some sort of… trickster?

 

Oberon is climbing a stepladder to get to a top shelf. He takes advantage of his temporary height to get in Scott's face.

 

OBERON: Ha! (closer) Ha! The maestro was a downright sorcerer. He could catch a bullet—A BULLET—with his bare hands.

 

SCOTT: I could do that.

 

BARDA: (O.S.) No you couldn't.

 

OBERON: I mean, the Allies asked for his help back in WW2, he helped them… disguise air strips, fake invasions. After the war, the Mob tried to get him to help them rob banks. A magic bank robbery, can you imagine? Not that the maestro would ever go for that. Real straight arrow. Rigged it up so they magicked their way right into county jail. Still, could use the money now. Could use him now.

 

SCOTT: What happened?

 

Oberon finds what he's looking for. A framed photograph. Mr. Miracle without the mask, in a wild tuxedo, and a BLUSHING BRIDE. They're kissing, Miracle's lips on his wife's forehead. Oberon cleans it off affectionately.

 

OBERON: The missus. Eleanor Brown. What a catch. But when those Mob guys got out of prison, they held a grudge. And she, uh… aww, I don't like talking about it. Even now. They had a kid, Ted, and he blamed the maestro for it. When you lose someone like that—two people, really—they take a part of you with that. Mr. Miracle was never quite whole after that. The doctors said it was heart failure. They got that right.

 

SCOTT: When?

 

OBERON: Going on five years now.

 

Oberon sets the picture down, knocking a MAGIC WAND over. Oberon catches it, tripping a spring which sends a bouquet of FLOWERS out the end. He stuffs them back down.

 

OBERON: Aww, I'm an old man, what're you doing talking to me? You wanna be like Criss Angel, I can't help you, everyone knows my tricks these days.

 

SCOTT: Nothing like that. We're looking for something… special. Maybe a… magic book or something?

 

OBERON: Look around. All this weird crap is supposed to be magic. The maestro spent his life savings searching for it and collecting stuff—it's all bupkist to me. No such thing as magic. Ask any magician. Nowadays even eBay doesn't want this crud.

 

SCOTT: No, not like 'special' special. Something actually special, something you wouldn't show to just anyone.

 

OBERON: Hey, guy, hate to shatter your world, but you are just anyone.

 

Scott looks over at Barda, who is no help at all. She's looking down the barrel of the gun.

 

OBERON: (re: gun) Hey, is that thing real?

 

SCOTT: Look, maybe I'm not supposed to tell you this, but we're… not from around here. We're from someplace you probably wouldn't understand.

 

OBERON: Florida?

 

SCOTT: No. Another world, called Apokolips. They're not as accommodating as you people are and they're looking for something bad. Someone died telling me that Mr. Miracle knows where it is, so something here has to hold the key to beating Apokolips to it.

 

Oberon just stares. In the BG, the gun goes off. He whirls around. Barda has accidentally blown a hole in the wall.

 

BARDA: Oops.

 

OBERON: This all sounds really interesting, but it's getting late, maybe you should come back tomorrow. Or never. Whichever's best for you.

 

SCOTT: You don’t believe me?

 

OBERON: Look, it's great that you've got Vin Diesel with boobs over there, but c'mon. Aliens? That look like crummy knock-offs of people?

 

BARDA: We're gods. You're crummy knock-offs of us.

 

SCOTT: Barda, do something alien-y.

 

Barda, put on the spot, CLICKS HER TONGUE a few times. Oberon looks on, unimpressed.

 

SCOTT: I think they can do that too.

 

BARDA: Alright then…

 

She picks up the sarcophagus and lifts it with one arm.

 

BARDA: Can he do this?

 

All Oberon can do is gape. 


	9. Chapter 9

INT. MAGIC SHOP – BACKROOM – LATER

 

Barda looks through the clutter, determined, observant. Over:

 

OBERON: (V.O.) Alien gods. That's two things I don't believe in the same day.

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – UPSTAIRS BEDROOM – EVENING

 

Oberon's humble home. A sparse room of few possessions, but many memories. Oberon pours a tumbler of WHISKEY for Scott, who sits, spellbound by the simple life on display.

 

SCOTT: If it's any consolation, I didn't believe this could exist either. People just… living. No one telling them what to do. They said it was impossible.

 

OBERON: So outer space isn't too friendly, huh?

 

SCOTT: Nowhere near as friendly as here.

 

OBERON: (drinks) Christ, that is an awful prospect.

 

SCOTT: What, what's wrong with this planet?

 

OBERON: How much time ya got? We have racism, war, famine, sexism, homophobia… You know they actually have drills they make kids practice in case someone shoots up their school?

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – BACKROOM – EVENING

 

Opening a file cabinet, Barda finds a sheaf of simple drawings. They must belong to the son, Ted Brown. She stares at the stick figures, her face telling us she doesn't even know what they are. Then she looks up and sees herself in a mirror. Oh. They're people.

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) That's what people here do with their freedom?

 

OBERON: (V.O.) No, not all… some people try to help. The maestro, he was one of the good ones. You have to hold onto the good ones.

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) So you don't care for the planet—just the people?

 

Later, Barda finds a cup of keys, pens, odds and ends. She picks up a pencil, testing the point against her finger. No damage, but a mark on her skin. She tries it on a table. Then on a business card. Ahh.

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – UPSTAIRS BEDROOM – EVENING

 

Oberon slams back another finger of whiskey.

 

OBERON: Why are you trying to make everything I say sound profound? The truth is, nobody knows nothing. But the person who knows the most about your nothing is you. So if this dinky blue marble works for you, screw anyone who doesn't like it! Make yourself at home!

 

Scott tentatively puts a foot up on the table.

 

OBERON: So you're new to Earth? Have you seen the sights?

 

SCOTT: I saw a sunrise… a sunset… the simple wonder of a babbling brook.

 

Oberon does a Bronx cheer.

 

OBERON: Brother, how'd you like the nickel tour?

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – BACKROOM – EVENING

 

As difficult as a stroke victim learning how to redo simple tasks, Barda manipulates the pencil on a blank piece of paper. She draws a crude face. You could almost see it as a self-portrait.

 

INT. HIDEOUT – NIGHT

 

As the sun sets, we see the side of Earth our heroes haven't—dark, dingy, sinister. A MOB DOCTOR is working on Shades's hand, trying to lather enough lube on for him to get his fingers out of the crushed knuckle dusters. The other mobsters are licking their wounds, with Steel Hand on the phone.

 

STEEL HAND: I'm telling you, I need more guys, more artillery! This bitch, she muscled in on us, sent my whole crew packing! Yes, a woman, but big—really big! Like Bridgette Nielsen big!

 

His boss hangs up on him. Steel Hand looks at the phone in disbelief, then throws it across the room. Swears in Italian.

 

LASHINA: (O.S.) Beaten by a woman. Some men might not enjoy that.

 

Lashina steps out of the shadows wearing a body-hugging black leather dress. She's taken to Earth easily.

 

STEEL HAND: How the hell did you get in here?

 

LASHINA: I'm flexible. That thing you… fought today. She stole something from my employer. If you were to return it to us, you'd be rewarded (touches someone) handsomely.

 

STEEL HAND: I'd like nothing more than to take that bitch, but she's on some kind of roids…

 

LASHINA: No. The government performed certain procedures on her. Special powers training… If you'd like, we could give you similar gifts.

 

STEEL HAND: You work for the government?

 

LASHINA: Not your government. _The_ government. But you'd be surprised how many similarities there are.

 

STEEL HAND: And what's the charge?

 

LASHINA: No charge, just find our property and the powers are yours. Use them for whatever your idea of fun is.

 

Off Steel Hand's expression… knowing he's going to take the deal.

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – SPARE BEDROOM – NIGHT

 

All furnishings but the bed have long since been sold-off, leaving ghostly lines on the walls. Barda tries to sleep, but she can't get comfortable. Eventually, she rolls onto her side and pokes the mattress with her finger. It sinks in up to the knuckle. Too soft.

 

The door blows open. Barda is instantly up, the Mega-Rod trained at the intruder… who spews a verse of drinking song. It's a blitzed Scott Free.

 

SCOTT: Barda, are you up?

 

BARDA: Yes.

 

SCOTT: Good! There's something I have to show you!

 

Trying to take her hand, he grabs the Mega-Rod instead and pulls her by that.

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – BACKROOM – NIGHT

 

Outside, a peaceful, quiet night. Even the headlights of passing cars is calming. Scott leads Barda down the stairs, tripping on one, only saved from a black eye by Barda pulling him back.

 

BARDA: You smell of alcohol.

 

SCOTT: Oh, is that what that is? I thought it was this planet's drinking water.

 

Scott lets go of her, jumps the banister, and comes to an old-fashioned radio. He turns it on, endures a hissing whine of static, and fiddles with it.

 

BARDA: Scott, we're six hours into this world's night cycle…

 

SCOTT: Just listen.

 

He finds a station, a DUMB POP SONG coming out of the speakers. They listen, Scott canting his head, profoundly moved, almost in tears. It seems funny at first, but then becomes endearing when we realize this is the first real music he's ever heard.

 

SCOTT: It's called music. They play it all the time here. All different kinds and sorts, you just have to turn a dial.

 

He turns to a station that, coincidentally enough, plays something softer, more intimate. A violin solo, maybe. Barda comes up to Scott and begins helping him out of his jacket.

 

BARDA: Come on. You need your sleep. We're saving the world tomorrow.

 

She smiles fondly at him as she says it, before realizing what she's doing. She tries to scowl, but can't manage that either. She has no idea how to deal with these emotions.

 

SCOTT: I know that one. That's called a smile. Next thing you know it'll be laughter.

 

She pulls his jacket off, but he playfully tries to pull it back. Stumbles over into a writing desk and SCATTERS the stack of drawings there. They drift to the floor with a dreamy slowness. Scott rubs at his face, sobering. He picks a few up. They're drawings Barda's done, primitive at first, but getting better. The last is recognizable as Auralie.

 

SCOTT: These are pretty good. Did you do these?

 

Barda's hand raised to stop him, but motionless. She seems unaware of the tear making its way down her face.

 

BARDA: Her name was Auralie. I don't want to forget what she looked like. I had a picture of her, but I lost it. I keep losing things…

 

Scott goes to her. He brings his hand to her face. She doesn't acknowledge it. She's still as a statue while he wipes the tears from her eyes.

 

SCOTT: It's called crying. Everyone does it.

 

BARDA: Here.

 

SCOTT: Everywhere. Some places you just do it on the outside.

 

BARDA: It's late, we should—

 

Surprising himself, Scott bows her head so he can kiss her temple. She isn't used to even that much touching. Unable to help herself, she basks in it. Scott pulls back, aware he's crossed a line somehow.

 

SCOTT: You're right, we should go to bed.

 

BARDA: (defensive) You didn't know I was going to say that.

 

SCOTT: So I'll take the couch and you can have the bed.

 

BARDA: No, you take the bed, it's too soft for my liking. I'll sleep on the floor.

 

SCOTT: If you're sure.

 

BARDA: I'm pretty sure.

 

He heads up the stairs.

 

BARDA: What was that called, anyway?

 

SCOTT: (looking back) I don't know.

 

INT. HIDEOUT – NIGHT

 

The room now has the queasy feel of a sacrificial chamber. Steel Hand and his men lie on metal slabs. The technology arrayed over them is advanced, but unsavory. Lots of needles, lots of edges.

 

DESAAD is setting the equipment up, Bernadeth observing him in a nauseatingly green ensemble. Seeing the two together, it's obvious the two are brother and sister—which doesn't explain the icky tension between them.

 

BERNADETH: I love to watch you work, brother dear.

 

DESAAD: I'd say the same for you, but do you ever work?

 

Steel Hand notices the piece Desaad has just finished with looks extraordinarily threatening.

 

STEEL HAND: This isn't going to hurt, is it?

 

Desaad bustles about, taking the gangsters' measurements with a laser. Uh-oh.

 

BERNADETH: Barda didn't feel a thing.

 

Restraints snap shut over the gangsters.

 

BERNADETH: Of course, she was a god. You're mortal. Our methods will have to become more… invasive.

 

CUT TO: Grinding. Roasting. Leaking. Finally, Oberon presents a cup of coffee to Scott.

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – MORNING

 

Scott, hungover, tries to get the coffee into his mouth without taking his head off the table.

 

BARDA: We've searched this place from top to bottom—

 

SCOTT: Not so loud.

 

Barda looks at him like she can't figure out how to make her voice any softer, then she just takes a few steps back.

 

BARDA: There's nothing here. Just a bunch of old crap no one wants or needs.

 

OBERON: (taking umbrage) Hey!

 

BARDA: --and Oberon.

 

SCOTT: We keep looking. It has to be around here somewhere.

 

He manages to lift his head far enough to lap up the coffee. It seems to help.

 

OBERON: I have to open the store.

 

Oberon goes to the front door, flips the sign to OPEN.

 

SCOTT: Thanks for helping us, Oberon.

 

OBERON: (waves him off) Eh, this is the most excitement I've had in years. Maybe I should open a hostel…

 

He drops the mail on the kitchen table—or at least the box that's being used as one (swords, as in the impaling act, stick out of it). He and Scott discuss where the whatever-it-is could've gotten to as Barda idly fingers through Oberon's letters. Mostly bills.

 

SCOTT: Could it have been stolen?

 

OBERON: Haven't had a break-in yet. What's there to steal?

 

Barda comes to a fashion magazine, the kind of thing men obviously don't read for the articles. The glossy look intrigues Barda. She fixates on it as Scott gets up to look around once more.

 

SCOTT: Maybe it's hidden—a secret compartment, a false wall…

 

He tries a few tricks of the trade as Barda pages through the girly mag. EXTREME CLOSE-UPS of Barda and the pictures as she registers this new way of looking at the human form. Men and women touching each other, half-dressed, open pleasure on their faces… she's not confused, she knows about it intellectual, it's just not something she's ever really thought about. Then suddenly, she jolts bolt upright.

 

BARDA: Hold…

 

Scott and Oberon turn back to her. Oberon sees what she's been reading.

 

OBERON: (snatching it up) They send me this by mistake—I subscribed to National Geographic.

 

BARDA: Shut up. (to Scott, all business) Short-range teleporters, Fury-issue. I can smell them.

 

She pops her Mega-Rod up from where it's leaning against her chair. Scott follows her toward the door.

  
SCOTT: (to Oberon) Wait here and keep your head down.

 

BARDA: (to Scott) That goes double for you. You're the one they want.

 

SCOTT: I'm not letting you face them alone, those Furies are trained killers.

 

BARDA: What do you think I am?

 

She's out the door, leaving Scott behind, wanting to help her but trusting she knows best.

 

EXT. MAGIC SHOP – MORNING

 

An empty street. Barda's old unit, THE FURIES, are assembled like Old West outlaws calling out the sheriff. Lashina in the middle. She watches as Barda sheds her business coat, loosens her tie.

 

LASHINA: We came here to talk.

 

BARDA: Then talk.


	10. Chapter 10

INT. MAGIC SHOP – MORNING

 

Scott's watching, an excess of concern on his face when something crashes behind him. He and Oberon swivel.

 

SCOTT: What was that?

 

OBERON: Backdoor.

 

SCOTT: It opens from the outside?

 

OBERON: Nope.

 

Oberon hands Scott his personal weapon—a BASEBALL BAT—and takes cover. Scott tries the weight as he walks down the dusty aisles to the back of the store, nice and easy. Then he sees them, standing in the shadows but lit by the sun coming through the shattered backdoor.

 

The gangsters are perversions of nature, in a PG-13 kinda way _._ Frankenstein stitches all over, metal gadgets patched on their bodies, clothes brown with old blood. Makes Darth Vader look like a nudist.

 

SCOTT: You know, I actually meant for Barda to pay you--

 

STEEL HAND: (electronically harsh) I'll shove an umbrella up your ass and open it.

 

SCOTT: …I don't think that would work.

 

TATTOO comes at him, a glowing diode now replacing half of his namesake. Scott blocks with the bat, goes down holding it up to keep Tattoo at bay. Tattoo repetitively headbutts the bat until it breaks. Scott hits Tattoo with both halves. He kicks Tattoo off just in time for Steel Hand to pick Scott up and throw him through a thin wall—

 

INT. MAGIC SHOP – BACKROOM – MORNING

 

Scott lands in a puff of plaster. He calls out:

 

SCOTT: Barda? Little help!?

 

TASER steps through the wall, grabbing the eponymous weapon. His fingers interlock with the device like a phone into a charger. The prongs glow malevolently.

 

Scott retreats, dodging Taser's jabs. They circle like knife fighters. Oberon hides as the other gangsters tear through the wall and door. Scott is distracted, stumbles, and Taser is on him. Scott grabs Oberon's portable TV and holds it up as a shield. Taser punches right through the back of the set, the electricity turning the TV on to an old Three Stooges short!

 

MOE: Why I oughta…

 

Taser jams the TV in Scott's face. He goes reeling, crashing into the water torture cell. The impact puts a slender crack in the glass. The mildewy water inside begins to trickle out. Scott sees it. A lightbulb moment.

 

SCOTT: That all you got?

 

Taser punches him again, the blow going through Scott's body to spider-web the glass behind him.

 

SCOTT: One more time? That just about got the kink outta my back.

 

Taser batters up, but Scott grabs the TV off his hand and ducks under the punch. Taser hits the glass with his bare, electric hand and punches through. A wave of electrified water splashes down on him as Scott rolls out of the way. Taser is left, once more, burnt out.

 

SCOTT: Wait here, I'll get the lifeguard.

 

The water cell breaking has left a fish inside flopping on the ground. Scott picks it up, turns to see Cravat in his path. The man pulls open his collar. His throat and chest have been replaced with segmented bands of flexible metal. They glow red at the edges, the energy moving upward as Cravat _breathes fire._ Scott dodges, dropping the fish, which is instantly turned to smoked salmon.

 

And Scott jukes into the way of Gloves, who lunges at him, black hands wrapping around Scott's throat. They fall onto the guillotine, Scott being strangled alongside the basket of plaster heads. Scott pulls at the hands around his neck, only succeeding in ripping away the gloves to reveal metal pincers underneath.

 

SCOTT: Nice manicure.

 

Gloves squeezes harder. Scott sees the blade over them and—duh—kicks the cord so it falls on the back of Gloves's head. But it's fake, of course. Gloves is only distracted. Which is all Scott needs.

 

The water from the torture cell has spread under the guillotine. Scott reaches down and touches it. He's shocked along with Gloves. The cyborg takes it worse, his metal fingers releasing Scott to move every direction, even backward. Scott flips Gloves into the stock of the guillotine and claps it shut. He's trapped.

 

Cravat is nearby, charging up another shot. Scott grabs a magic wand off the table, then pops it down Cravat's throat. He hits the catch to unfurl the flowers. A few bulbs come out the joins in Cravat's new gullet. Cough, cough.

 

Now we notice HAT. He takes off his fedora to reveal a CHROME DOME underneath. Ramming speed. He piles into Scott, lifting him up with his charge and carries him, trying to splatter Scott against the far wall. Scott grabs a hanging lamp, letting it drag him out of Hat's grip, but then he sees SHADES clinging to the ceiling like a spider. With a sweeping kick, Shades knocks the lamp off the ceiling. Scott drops.

 

Lands and rolls out of the way as Hat charges over where he was a second ago. Shades drops down into a handstand next to Scott and kicks him in the face when he gets up. Scott staggers into the sarcophagus. Shades backflips over to him, spine as elastic as a slinky, his top and bottom rotating in different directions. He comes down on his palms, an upside-down roundhouse kick coming Scott's way.

 

Scott opens the sarcophagus and the lid blocks the kick. Then he kicks Shades himself, sending the gangster into a charging Hat, who rams right through him. Shades spins in different directions. Scott flips the sarcophagus up so Hat runs right into it, then slams the lid shut. In the back of the sarcophagus is an imprint of Hat's face.

 

Shades hits the wall by Scott, sticks like a gecko and mule-kicks Scott with both legs. He's shotputted into a shelf, playing cards and other tricks falling around him. Shades bounces off the floor, walls, and ceiling to deliver a dropkick that sends Scott through the shelf and sliding across the floor. He stops next to Oberon like a boxer going to his cornerman. Oberon holds up a straitjacket.

 

OBERON: Here!

 

SCOTT: Don't you have anything in red?

 

OBERON: Get it around him, you won't have to worry about him jumping all over the place.

 

Shades becomes a tornado of fists and feet, battering Scott and Oberon from every direction. Oberon takes a kick and clings to Shades's leg like a bulldog.

 

OBERON: Heads up!

 

Scott holding the straitjacket open, Oberon wrestles the leg into a sleeve. Shades goes berserk, hammering Oberon with his fists, but Scott grabs an arm and locks it behind Shades's back—into a sleeve. They close the straitjacket over Shades's face and do up the ties, leaving him bundled like a stack of newspapers.

 

SCOTT: If anyone calls, be sure to mention he's all tied up. (beat, chuckling at his own joke) I just thought of that!

 

OBERON: I think someone might've beaten you to the punch.

 

Suddenly, four ropes of lightning wrap around Oberon. They're the fingers of a giant electrical hand, palm the size of a kitchen table. Steel Hand comes out of the shadows, the stumps of his wrists barking sparks.

 

STEEL HAND: Look at me. Look what they did. My nick's Steel Hand. _Do these look like steel hands?_

The giant hands toss Oberon aside and reach for Scott. He dives between the shelves of a row, into the next aisle, and the hands punch through after him. He weaves between the aisles, rolling and vaulting through empty spaces, Steel Hand coming like an angry bull after him.

 

Scott's almost to the back of the store, and the backdoor, when he throws himself between two shelves right into Cravat, still choking on a wand. The rows behind Scott are falling after him like dominoes. Scott manhandles Cravat out into the open as the aisle they're in is crushed. Steel Hand is coming down the outside of the aisles, cracking the knuckles of his giant hands overhead. Scott pulls Cravat in front of him like a human shield.

 

STEEL HAND: (clenching fists) I hope you're not thinking of trading his life for yours.

 

SCOTT: No. Trading your skull for a hole in that wall.

 

And he pulls the wand out. Dragon's breath instantly vomits out of Cravat, hitting Steel Hand full-on. The mob boss flies like an ant finger-flicked off a picnic.

 

SCOTT: (to Cravat) We make a good team.

 

Stepping past Cravat, he elbows him into unconsciousness. Steel Hand lies motionless against the wall, half-covered in rubble.

 

SCOTT: Hey, are you okay?

 

He goes to check Steel Hand's pulse and the man's head lolls to the side, exposing his scalp peeled back and metal underneath.

 

STEEL HAND: Look what you brought here.

 

Scott rears back, Steel Hand roars up. He runs Scott into the wall, throwing his forearm across Scott's throat.

 

STEEL HAND: I want my life back!

 

And then Barda's there, passing by like she doesn't even see Scott, but grabbing Steel Hand and pulling him away. She hurls him against the wall. He bounces off, right into Barda's Mega-Rod, and corkscrews to the ground. Barda puts her foot on his throat. Shifts her weight.

 

SCOTT: (catching his breath) Thanks.

 

Barda doesn't notice him. All eyes on her target.

 

SCOTT: Barda, that's enough.

 

She grinds her heel in his trachea.

 

SCOTT: You're killing him!

 

He has to physically pull Barda off Steel Hand. She whirls on him, weapons poised to strike before she recognizes him. She's breathing hard, full of emotion and no way to express it.

 

SCOTT: I didn't bring you here because this world needed another killer. We came here for a fresh start. Remember?

 

He goes to check on Oberon.

 

SCOTT: I think I got all of 'em.

 

BARDA: You?

 

SCOTT: Yeah. Me.

 

He gives Oberon a shake. The midget's eyes open.

 

OBERON: Maestro?

 

SCOTT: No. You're not dead yet.

 

OBERON: Doesn't feel that way.

 

Barda is pacing around them in a circle, practically begging for a threat to rear its head.

 

SCOTT: (concerned) What happened?

 

OBERON: (accusing) Yeah, where were you?

  
Barda's face jack-knifes between the questions—vulnerable at Scott's, rage at Oberon's.

 

BARDA: I don't answer to you! And you didn't bring me here, I brought you! Not for some therapy, but to strike back at Apokolips. Or have you forgotten the stench of the Fire-Pits? I haven't! I haven't forgotten anything…

 

She grabs the Father Box.

 

BARDA: They're tracking us through this. From here on, no Boomtubes.

 

OBERON: Then we're in for a long drive. Because I know where we're headed.


	11. Chapter 11

INT. OBERON'S BEDROOM – DAY

 

Oberon is packing a suitcase double-time. The battle has left a giant hole in the floor; the three have to step around it as they move around the room.

 

OBERON: That doohickey of yours isn't made in America, I take it.

 

SCOTT: It's a creation of Apokolips.

 

OBERON: Good. Because I saw Ted's inheritance. And some of the loot he took with him looked a lot like that.

 

He struggles to get the suitcase shut. Barda does it for him. The bed cracks underneath the shut suitcase. Oberon shoots Barda a look. She looks to Scott. He looks back. With a scowl, Barda gets the suitcase for Oberon and takes it downstairs—through the hole.

 

OBERON: We need to talk.

 

SCOTT: Not now. In the car.

 

OBERON: Barda will be in the car.

 

SCOTT: And the freaks downstairs won't be. Or do you want to wait here for them to finish their nap?

 

OBERON: You really believe they found you with some widget?

 

SCOTT: I believe _her._

 

EXT. MAGIC SHOP – DAY

 

Barda stands in front of Oberon's car, a VW Bug.

 

BARDA: This is a joke, correct?

 

OBERON: I'll tell you what's a joke. The gas mileage of everything else in my price range.

 

He opens the trunk. Barda drops the suitcase in.

 

OBERON: Backseat's all yours.

 

She crams herself in, ending up in a fetal position. So she stretches out, butting her head through one window and kicking out the other.

 

OBERON: The windows roll down!

 

BARDA: Not anymore.

 

In the passenger seat, Scott smiles despite himself.

 

INT. VW BUG – DAY

 

Later. Driving. Oberon looks in the backseat. Barda's eyes are closed. He waves his hand in front of her face. Nothing.

 

OBERON: Can I ask you something, Scott?

 

SCOTT: Only if I can ask you something. How did Mr. Miracle catch bullets?

 

OBERON: Practice. First, he had me throw things at him. Then, he had me shoot things. I was a long time before we got to bullets.

  
SCOTT: Practice… good. I've got a lot of free time on my hands.

 

OBERON: So how come you trust Barda? How do you know she's not a spy?

 

In the back, Barda's eyes open. She says nothing.

 

SCOTT: How did you know Mr. Miracle was one of the good ones?

 

OBERON: When we met, he didn't say crap about me being a dwarf.

 

SCOTT: Well… Barda never asked me why I tried to escape.

 

INT. VW BUG – EVENING

 

Scott and Barda are asleep, Oberon is drifting. The car follows suit, drifting into the other lane. Horns blare! Oberon wakes, veering back into his lane but not soon enough to avoid sparks flying from a near-miss. Barda jerks upright; her head was on the side of the impact. A side-mirror is tangled in her hair.

 

BARDA: What was that?

 

OBERON: That's it. We're finding a motel.

 

INT. MOTEL LOBBY – EVENING

 

Barda is in a snit, arms folded, while Scott is marveling at the motel's pamphlet ("Color TV?"). In the background, Oberon talks turkey with the owner.

 

BARDA: I don't need to sleep. We can press on.

 

OBERON: Yah. As soon as you learn to drive.

 

SCOTT: What's magic fingers?

 

Barda stalks off.

 

SCOTT: Was it something I said?

 

Oberon comes back to drop a card key in Scott's hand.

 

OBERON: I only had enough cash for two motel rooms. If you want to bunk with me, know that I snore.

 

Scott picks an apple out of a fruit basket. Bites. Wax.

 

OBERON: And that's why this is a two-star hotel. Appearances can be deceiving, Scotty my boy.

 

Clutching the apple, Scott leaves the room.

 

EXT. WOODS – EVENING

 

Barda stands behind the motel, in the woods, motionless, silent. She looks up at the stars. The moon. Nearby, an adult and baby DEER are eating grass. Seeing her, they run off.

 

SCOTT: Tough getting used to it, huh?

 

He's leaning against a tree nearby, giving her a little space. She doesn't face him.

 

SCOTT: I'm so used to Apokolips. That… pure black sky, with only one little speck of light. New Genesis.

 

BARDA: I used to hate them. So much. For spoiling all that darkness.

 

SCOTT: I wondered what it would be like, all the way over there. (beat) I think it would be something like this.

 

Barda turns to him, and she's catching an apple thrown to her.

 

SCOTT: Give me a hand. I want you to throw this at me as hard as you can.

 

Barda turns and throws it at a tree. Timberrr… if there were anything left to fall.

 

SCOTT: Okay, let's try underhand first.

 

They toss it back and forth, the apple going faster with each throw.

 

SCOTT: They do something to you?

 

BARDA: No!

 

SCOTT: They say something to you? What?

 

BARDA: (hard throw) I don't take orders from you!

 

SCOTT: I wasn't ordering. I was asking.

 

He lobs the apple over. She lets it pass her and roll over the ground.

 

BARDA: Do you know what it's like to be… full of hate? (beat) They told me about Auralie.

 

EXT. MAGIC SHOP – FLASHBACK

 

Barda smacks the Mega-Rod against the palm of her hand as she takes the Furies in, gauging their reactions. Mad Harriet is smiling creepily. Bernadeth and Stompa seem sympathetic. Lashina is unreadable.

 

LASHINA: Come home, Barda. You don't belong here, some anarchist wasteland, running off with a political dissident. You've made a terrible mistake.

 

BARDA: (loaded) It's happened before.

 

STOMPA: Auralie wasn't your fault. It was his.

 

And reaching into the shadows, Lashina brings out a JUSTIFIER, bound and gagged. She throws him at Barda's feet.

 

LASHINA: Auralie's killer.

 

It takes Barda a second to process that. Then she has her hands around his throat.

 

STOMPA: And they thought you had gone soft.

 

LASHINA: Kill him. Kill him and let's go home.

 

But Barda isn't moving. She's staring at the Justifier like she's trying to solve a puzzle. The man is about to die and he's not even blinking.

 

BARDA: Darkseid is.

 

JUSTIFIER: Hail Darkseid!

 

She lets him go. He just lies where he's fallen.

 

BARDA: He was following orders. We were all following orders. What about the people who gave the orders? Are you going to hand them over too?

 

LASHINA: (snorting) If you want the person who killed Auralie, find a mirror. If she'd been put into training like the law states, she would still be alive!

 

BARDA: She never would've made it through training. She wasn't like us!

 

BERNADETH: Because you didn't want her to be. You hated being a soldier. Hated the sacrifice. Hated the discipline.

 

BARDA: That's not true!

 

MAD HARRIET: Never wanted to be a soldier. Wanted pretty boys looking at her, pretty boys touching.

 

LASHINA: You wanted Scott Free. But you couldn't have him, so you tried living through Auralie. And it killed her.

 

BARDA: Scott doesn't love me! He's just my… my…

 

STOMPA: Whore.

 

BERNADETH: Slut.

 

LASHINA: Traitor.

 

One by one, the Furies disappear. Lashina last. She whispers in Barda's ear.

 

LASHINA: I knew you wouldn't be able to accept the inevitable. That's why I had Auralie killed.

 

Barda quick-draws her Mega-Rod and swings as Lashina teleports. We whip-pan with the blow and cut to—

 

EXT. WOODS – EVENING

 

Scott getting beaned in the gut. Barda had thrown the apple too hard. She stands over him, restraining herself from helping him up.

 

BARDA: You're going to have a great life. You're going to learn all the tricks this place has, and you're going to fit in like a hand up a glove, and you're going to forget all the hell I put you through. But I'll remember. I'll stay this way like stone. Because they'll never stop hunting me. You have this whole… journey. I'm on a one-way trip.

 

She leaves him struggling to catch his breath.

 

SCOTT: Who's Auralie?

 

BARDA: She's dead and she doesn't matter.

 

He throws something at her. She catches it. The room key.

 

They don't speak a word.

 

EXT. WOODS – LATER

 

Barda vents her frustration, uprooting trees, shattering boulders, a force of nature. Animals flee.

 

EXT. MOTEL - NIGHT

 

Barda comes out of the woods shining with sweat. She's exhausted but unsatisfied, paused outside the light of the motel like she doesn't know if she wants to go on. She wipes the sweat out of her eyes and it's almost like she's crying.

 

She opens the door to Oberon's room and is immediately greeted with snoring worthy of Godzilla. She shuts the door. Eyes Scott's, next to it. The room key is in her hand.

 

INT. SCOTT'S ROOM

 

It's dark. Barda's entrance lets in a shaft of moonlight, silhouetting her as she steps inside. There are two beds. Scott is in the furthest one, motionless. Barda goes to her bed. On the cover is the drawing of Auralie she wadded up. It's been smoothed out, the lines retraced, shading added. It's almost like a photograph now.

 

Barda lets it slip through her fingers, numb. She stands there. We linger on the night sounds—crickets, frogs, distant traffic. This whole surreal setting.

 

When in Rome…

 

She goes to Scott. He's sprawled under the covers, face up, eyes closed. Barda leans over him like she's going to smell him. She brushes some hair out of his face. Then tentatively kisses his forehead. And his nose, his cheek, his ear, on and on, trying to find the right fit. It's nerve-wracking, in a way: seeing her open up and wondering if Scott will wake. Slowly, she works her way to his lips. Kissing his chin, the corner of his mouth, then _him._ Scott seems to respond, moving achingly into her touch, the kiss deepening, intensifying until Barda pulls away.

 

Confused, but weirdly satisfied. She goes to her own bed and Scott's eyes open. He lies there, having been awake the whole time. He turns onto his side to look at Barda as she lies on her back. Staring at the ceiling.


	12. Chapter 12

CUT TO:

 

OBERON: Wake up!

 

Scott's eyes pop open. Opposite him, Barda is lying on her side, staring back at him. Okay then. He walks out the door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

 

EXT. MOTEL – MORNING

 

People are looting, driving fast in packed cars, backed up in traffic. Someone has a 'The End Is Nigh' sign with the nigh crossed out and Now penciled in.

 

SCOTT: Is there a sale on?

 

Barda grabs his hair and pulls back. He looks up. A Fang-Ship is hanging over them like the Sword of Damocles.

 

OBERON: They came in the night, there's at least a hundred, and they blew up Luxenborg twenty minutes ago.

 

BARDA: Standard Operating Procedure. Establish parameter, make offense, and gauge response. Once that's done, they'll really get to work.

 

OBERON: How long do we have?

 

SCOTT: Ten hours, give or take. Then Lashina will be the least of your worries.

 

BARDA: We haven't got a moment to lose.

 

INT. BACHELOR PAD – DAY

  
The kind of place that gives heterosexuality a bad name. Decorated in Early Pizza Hut. Posters of recent comedy movies substituting for taste. A singing bass. TED BROWN, fiercely stubbled, fiercely shaggy, lies in bed. Snores. His alarm clock goes off. He pulls the plug out of the wall mid-snore.

 

We fast-forward through his day as Scott and company make their way to him.

 

Ted watches a Chinese take-out carton rotate in his microwave.

 

Eating and drinking (Red Bull), Ted turns his TV on. News. Alien invasion. He changes the channel, skipping through 411 until he gets to a repeat of Yo Gabba Gabba.

 

EXT. BACHELOR PAD – DAY

 

Ted smokes a cigarette away from the smoke detectors. A Fang-Ship hangs overhead. Ted gives it the finger.

 

In the parking lot, a family is packing up the soccer mom-mobile, replacing fast-food bags with boxes and suitcases. Ted wanders down, listening to the dad telling everyone to hurry, hurry, hurry, and swipes a box when no one is looking.

 

INT. BACHELOR PAD – DAY

 

With a trace of longing, Ted pitches sports trophies and school projects with As plus through minus. He comes to a Christmas present, wrapping paper still stuck on. Karaoke Hero.

 

Ted has his cell-phone in one hand, the game's microphone in the other. He talks to his much-unloved boss, letting his game performance flat-line.

 

TED: No, I can't come to work today, there's extraterrestrial life. In fact, I think I'm being abducted now. Dude, there's a blue light! Hold on, I've got a call on the other line. (switches over) Wassup? Yeah, I got your e-mail. End of the world party, I'm so there. Weed? Man, my weed-man was probably an alien to begin with, I think the mothership picked him up. Hold up, the chorus is coming. (into mic) Baby try to understand!

 

There's a slight knock at the door.

 

TED: Nobody's home!

 

A pause, then the knock is replaced by the loud boom of Barda's fist.

 

BARDA: Female Furies, open up!

 

TED: What's a Female Fury?

 

BARDA: (beat) Force of habit.

 

She knocks again. This time the door caves in.

 

BARDA: Weak door.

 

Scott walks in, slapping some cash down on the dresser.

 

SCOTT: Sorry about that. It wasn't unlocked, was it?

 

Oberon trails him.

 

OBERON: Heeey, Ted. (beat) Yo momma so fat, when she steps on a scale, it says to be continued…

 

TED: Yo momma so fat, she sat on the beach and Greenpeace threw her in.

 

SCOTT: Who's Yo Momma?

 

OBERON: You're never gonna believe this, Ted. These two are aliens.

 

TED: I believe you.

 

Barda taps the wall with her finger and puts a crack in it.

 

BARDA: Aliens.

 

TED: I said I believed you! Why would I doubt you're aliens when there are UFOs everywhere?

 

SCOTT: I don't know, healthy skepticism? I wouldn't believe you were an alien.

 

TED: I'm not!

 

SCOTT: See? Good call on my part.

 

Oberon grabs Ted before things can go any further and sits him down.

 

OBERON: Teddy, these aliens aren't with them. They're trying to save us. And to do that, they need something your father left you.

 

TED: Uh-huh.

 

SCOTT: It'll look like a block, maybe the size of one of your books, with patterns on it. They wouldn't mean anything to you, but you'd remember it.

 

TED: I don't know… maybe? I pawned a lot of it. Some of it's in the closet.

 

Scott and Barda go to check while Oberon stares Ted down.

 

BARDA: (getting the door) There could be a bomb.

 

SCOTT: Didn't know you cared.

 

BARDA: I love a good bomb.

 

OBERON: How could you sell any of your father's legacy, it's priceless!

 

TED: Actually, I got a pretty good price for it.

 

Barda taps Scott's shoulder, bringing the disagreement to his attention. He turns to look. She taps him again, indicating to not be so obvious.

 

OBERON: The man provided for ya—took care of ya—the things he wanted you to have, you just throw 'em away?

 

TED: (laughing) I'll never understand the way you worship that old fart. You loved Mom as much as I did. She gave him everything and he got her killed.

 

BARDA: He did not!

 

Scott and Oberon share a look, equally surprised by the outburst.

 

TED: Excuse me, who are you?

 

BARDA: If he loved her, he did all he could to save her. That's how love works.

 

TED: Yeah, well, he lived and she died, so who gives a shit?

 

Just like that, Barda has her hand around Ted's throat, Scott and Oberon trying to pull them apart.

 

BARDA: What would you know about love, living alone in this dung heap? When have you ever cared about anything more than your selfish desires?

 

She throws him to the ground and goes slack, letting Scott drag her outside.

 

EXT. BACHELOR PAD – DAY

  
Where he realizes he has no idea what to do with her and lets go. They eye each other like weary boxers.

 

BARDA: Don't.

  
SCOTT: I wasn't.

 

BARDA: Just don't.

 

SCOTT: I wasn't! (beat) What could I say that you'd even listen to?

 

They fall silent. Oberon comes out, ready to give Barda a piece of his mind. Scott shakes his head no.

 

Ted comes out, rubbing his reddened throat. He has something in his hand.

 

TED: This what you want? Take it and get lost.

 

He throws it at them. We see it flying through the air—the Mother Box, a more artistic version of the Father Box. Scott catches it. At his touch, it lights up with an eerie blue glow that focuses on Scott's face. Barda panics.

 

BARDA: Scott!

 

She moves to slap it away and Scott catches her hand.

 

SCOTT: It's alright. It's just… tasting me.

 

The sunlight seems to darken as the Mother Box brightens. They're all bathed in the blue light—which then shrinks, coalescing into a human form. A man that bears a striking resemblance to Scott, old and wizened as he is. This is the HIGHFATHER. Scott lets go of the Mother Box. It hangs in the air, at the center of the hologram, which makes eye contact with where Scott was standing. Scott doesn't meet the gaze. He walks around the hologram, examining it from different angles.

 

HIGHFATHER: Hello. I am Highfather Izaya of New Genesis. If you're watching this, then you are my son. The Mother Box is coded to you exclusively. It will guide you where I cannot. I know you must have… countless questions, but there isn't much time. I'll try to explain as best I can.

 

And now we're going back, back to the beginning of the movie. We see the invasion of New Genesis once more, but not the end—the early moments. Waking up to an army on the attack. A chilling reminder of what Earth's going through now.

 

HIGHFATHER: (V.O.) You've heard of the war, I'm sure, but you can't imagine how horrible it was. Millions of lives were lost. Whole planets burned. New Genesis is a world of peace. We would never surrender, but… what price could they ask that was too costly for peace.

 

And now we FLASHBACK to the Citadel. Darkseid offering his contract. This time we see it, and Highfather's reaction finally makes sense.

 

HIGHFATHER: (V.O.) They almost found one. The treaty Apokolips offered was more than fair, but there was a condition. One condition. To ensure the treaty, Apokolips would take the son of New Genesis and New Genesis would take the son of Apokolips. As leader of New Genesis, so many had made the ultimate sacrifice on my orders. Could I offer any less in return?

 

And now we're inside a FANGSHIP. We see Scott as a young boy, imprisoned inside a cage. Nervous, uncomprehending—not knowing enough to be scared.

 

HIGHFATHER: (V.O.) My boy, my boy—I don't even know what they named you. But I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

 

And BARDA'S there, with Bertha's body, wrapping it in linen. The two sharing a ship, two decades before they go on the run. The boy Scott smiles at her guilelessly. She looks away.

 

HIGHFATHER: (V.O.) If you're watching this, it means Apokolips has broken the treaty. Son, I have no right to ask anything more of you than the suffering you've endured, but I must. Growing up on Apokolips, you know the power of the Anti-Life Equation. Darkseid has almost all of it. If he finds the last Integer, the universe will be his. And it's hidden on Earth. The Mother Box will take you to it. It has to be you. I'm sorry, but it has to be. You're the only one who can destroy it once and for all.

 

We're back on Earth, watching Scott's reaction to all this. His usual devil-may-care attitude crumbling before our eyes.

 

HIGHFATHER: (V.O.) The Anti-Life Equation was created by the Old Gods before they were split into New Genesis and Apokolips. Only someone of both worlds can unmake it. You are a child of New Genesis, my son… stained by Apokolips. In all the universe, only you have this power. Use it. This is your destiny.

 

The light goes out. Scott reaches for Highfather as he disappears.

 

SCOTT: I have a father.

 

That's all he can take. Full up on emotions, he throws the Mother Box at Ted's window.

 

SCOTT: Take it back!

 

He stalks off, madder than we've ever seen him, lashing out at everything in his path. Barda takes a half-step after him, stops. Wanting to kill his pain, but not sure how. And willing to get down off her high horse to find out.

 

BARDA: (to Oberon) How do I help him? _I need to help him._


	13. Chapter 13

EXT. ALLEY – DAY

 

Scott, exhausted by his anger, is staggered against a brick wall. He looks down to see his reflection in a puddle. He can't help but see his father's face now. Scott jams his foot in the water.

 

Barda wanders up, as tentative as we've ever seen her. Not wanting to intrude, but doing it anyway.

 

SCOTT: It was his fault. Every beating, every bruise, every day of it. He put me through all of it. So I could do an errand for him. So I could be… _stained_. You asked me if I knew what it was like to be full of hate? If he were here right now, I'd rip his fucking head off.

 

BARDA: I'd do it for you.

 

He looks at her; seeing her for the first time.

 

SCOTT: You look different without the armor, you know.

 

BARDA: I know.

 

She embraces him.

 

BARDA: Hugging, right?

 

SCOTT: Right. (beat) You're not a bad person. All your life, they've told you who you are. Good, bad… you don't have to listen.

 

They gaze into each others' eyes, two people who want to kiss, wondering if the other person wants to kiss them. And as she looks, her eyes turn white. Cataracts in seconds. She collapses, seizing, Scott over her, trying to hold her still.

 

SCOTT: Barda? Barda? What's wrong?

 

LASHINA: Control, Scott. Control is everything.

 

Scott looks up, away from Barda. Lashina is before him, leading Oberon and Ted on her whips like leashed pets. The other Furies lead squads of Apokolips soldiers, cutting Scott off on all sides.

 

LASHINA: You should be thinking of ways to escape and ways to fight, but you can't control yourself. All you can think of is dear, sweet Barda. Lack of control. It's why you're going to get the Integer for me and I'm going to take it from you.

 

SCOTT: What'd you do to her?

 

Lashina rips away the back of Barda's shirt, revealing an omega-shaped BRAND on the back of her neck. It's GLOWING WHITE.

 

LASHINA: I activated her failsafe. You didn't think great Darkseid would give someone the power of a demi-god and just let her run free?

 

SCOTT: Turn it off.

 

LASHINA: I will. As soon as the Integer's mine. Otherwise… I'm told I can make her rip her own heart out with this. I'm awfully curious to try.

 

She snaps her fingers. Bernadeth steps forward.

 

BERNADETH: You dropped this.

 

She tosses Scott the Mother Box. He takes it gingerly. One last look at the convulsing Barda.

 

SCOTT: Take us to the Integer.

 

The Mother Box goes dark. With a series of progressively worsening booms, like the machine is performing an insurmountably difficult operation, the portal opens. Unlike other Boomtubes, its wake stirs up debris in the area. Beyond the event horizon, we can see only darkness.

 

SCOTT: Ladies first.

 

LASHINA: (smiling) Stay here with the humans. If we're not back in one hour, shoot them.

 

Using her Father Box, she forces Barda to stand and zombie-lurch through the portal.

 

LASHINA: Come, Scott Free. Let's go fulfill your destiny.

 

EXT. RAIN FOREST – DAY

 

We're suddenly in the middle of dense jungle, the canopy so thick it's like a giant casting a shadow. An anaconda parts the leaves on the ground, sneaking toward a warthog digging up roots. It's nearly there when the first boom sounds. Birds take flight. Insects go wild. The warthog runs off, more booms shaking the ground, leaving a shower of falling leaves. Then the portal opens.

  
Scott, Barda, and the Furies come through, the villainess scattering to check the area. Stompa crushes a fern in disgust.

 

STOMPA: There's nothing here!

 

Lashina nods. Stompa pins Scott to a tree, Mad Harriet waving her claws in his face.

 

SCOTT: This is as close as Mother Box can get us, the Integer's putting up some kind of interference! It'll be within a mile.

 

LASHINA: I don't believe you. Mad Harriet, take a finger.

 

SCOTT: Wait. Look!

 

He's pointing to a tree. It's the only one with no leaves. Stompa shoves him toward it. He touches it and his fingers sink in. It's mostly ash, like a log after the fireplace.

 

They look around. To the east are three more dead trees. They move in that direction, Barda trailing like a robot. There are more and more dead trees as they go, until they're in a forest of cinders. Scott stops, not wanting to go further. Even the Furies are spooked. The wind picks up, whistling eerily as it spreads ash from the trees like snow. Lashina cracks her whip. Onward.

 

LASHINA: Can you feel the Integer, Scott, filling us? Are you Apokoliptian enough for that? Barda is.

 

SCOTT: I don't need to feel it. Where there's smoke… ashes… there's fire.

 

LASHINA: Yes. A cleansing flame. A pure flame.

 

SCOTT: Spoken like someone who's never been burnt.

 

The trees drop away, leaving them in a featureless wasteland. Ashes up to their ankles. They're getting close, the ash turning them gray. Only Scott fights it, wiping himself off as best he can.

 

The smoke clears. Ahead we see a pile of ash as tall as a man, like the remains of a bonfire. Scott looks around. The dead trees are equally far in every direction. They're in the circle. The mound is in the center.

 

SCOTT: It's under there.

 

Stompa slams her powerful hands together, the concussion scattering the ash. It rains down like snow. Now we see the ground is _recessed_ underneath, level with the surrounding soil because of a layer of fine white ash. Scott gets on his knees, clears it away with his hands. A few inches underneath is stone with curved lines carved into it. He brushes off more. Now we see the lines form a spiral.

 

SCOTT: Help me.

 

LASHINA: Do it.

 

The Furies assist Scott in clearing off the spiral, while Lashina keeps watch on Barda. Mad Harriet finds the center of the spiral. She giggles; the line leads into a slot two inches wide and four inches long. Impossible to tell how deep it is. Scott pulls out the Mother Box. It's a perfect fit. He hesitates.

 

Lashina's whip puts a gash across his cheek.

 

LASHINA: Don't keep me waiting.

 

Scott plugs the Mother Box into the slot. It glows, its blue light running through the spiral. Sheer power emanates from the lines of light. It pushes the ash away. Scott and the Furies back away as the light spreads faster. It hits the final loop, circling the entire spiral and closing the loop. The stone in between the lines disappears, leaving the light hovering in the air like a neon sign. Underneath is more ash, but it trickles upward now like an hourglass turned over, going faster and faster, the trickle becoming a column of ash pushing into the clear sky, whirlwinding into a kind of mushroom cloud. The sun is blotted out.

 

In all the spectacle, Scott gets next to Barda. He takes her hand.

 

SCOTT: I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can… Barda, I'm going to get you out of this. I promise you.

 

The geyser trails off, leaving an abyss in the ground. Circular, twelve feet wide, and going straight down. Only a spiral staircase breaks the descent. It's glowing like the lines.

 

Bernadeth wrenches Scott away from Barda, throwing him toward the steps.

 

BERNADETH: Lead the way, dearie.

 

Barda's empty hand trembles.

 

INT. TEMPLE – TIMELESS

 

This was not made by human hands. Despite the cavernous appearance, there are no curves. Everything runs in straight lines, veering off wildly with alien geometry. Like pottery, everything is glazed. Even the bones littering the floor. Most of them are animal. Some aren't.

 

The massive room leads to a stairway, which leads to a raised platform, which narrows into a corridor. Scott tries to tread lightly, but the Furies push him along, making him crunch bones underfoot just like them.

 

LASHINA: Can you feel it calling to us? How our souls crave to be placed in the Equation's almighty parameters? It's like sunlight to a plant. Water to a fish.

 

SCOTT: Catnip to a kitty.

 

She cracks her whip like a gunslinger slapping leather, putting a notch in his shoulder. He winces.

 

LASHINA: You can't feel anything, can you? Not one of us, not one of them… what does it feel like to you?

 

SCOTT: (stopping) Death.

 

Up ahead is a group of human skeletons in a corner. They're meshed together, trying to protect each other. Above them, crude pictures have been carved into the walls. Scott feels them out.

 

SCOTT: It fell from the sky, when the earth was young.

 

EXT. RAIN FOREST – DAY

 

Over Scott's narration, we watch Roman legions coming through a native tribe, scattering the tribesmen before them with cool derision. They're followed in rapid succession by the French legion, Victorian explorers, even modern-day mercenaries.

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) At first, people were drawn to it by the noise and the light. But long after it had cooled, men came, drawn from distant lands. The falling star put a hole in the world. Its depths called to them. The men who came were as a great plague upon the people of the land, heaping upon them cruelty and derision. The people prayed to the gods for deliverance and the gods came, riding chariots of gold down from the stars.

 

New Genesis ships—discernible as little more than great constellations of colored light—descend upon the tribal village. As the light fades, it's like the NEW GODS are suddenly standing there. Highfather and others, armored, high-tech and elegant, works of deadly art.

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) And the gods shared great knowledge with the people, telling them that while men would always desire the power of the abyss, it would inevitably destroy them.

 

EXT. CRATER – NIGHT

 

The place where the Integer landed, and the massive crater it left. One of the explorers we saw earlier is descending into it, flashlight in hand. Something shines at the bottom, like his light's reflecting off something. Then it quickly grows brighter. He holds his hand up to shield his eyes and we see the flesh of his hand is bubbling like he's holding it to a fire. White out.

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) Nor could the gods remove the abyss from the land, for its evil was so great that the attempt would bring about eternal night. Only the gods on the side of darkness could claim the power, but doing so would take even the possibility of goodness from their soul.

 

EXT. CRATER – DAY

 

The New Gods show the tribesmen how to rebuild great stone works—the structure Scott is now in. As they build it, a large slab of rock breaks loose and plummets towards a tribesman. One of the New Gods waves his hand and the rock stops in mid-air.

 

SCOTT: (V.O.) The people begged for the wisdom to remove this curse from their land. The father of gods told them to take twelve of the bravest warriors and build a seal to silence the abyss. As it was said, so it was done.

 

INT. TEMPLE – TIMELESS

 

Scott finds a fingernail embedded in one line of the carving. Ugh.

 

SCOTT: It says any who wish the power of the abyss will be tested. The place is trapped. I'm going to need more time.

 

LASHINA: Take all the time you need. You won't be the one to pay the price.

 

Over her last few words, we hear footsteps descending the staircase. They get louder. We see Desaad lower himself into sight.

 

DESAAD: Oh. Oh, that is lovely. Can you smell it? The scent of order itself. It's the only fresh air on this chaos-hole. And imagine, the frail little humans thinking they could inhale. Even Darkseid himself was no more than the rest of us before he started taking the Integers within himself—taking godhood within himself. (beat) A hundred fang-ships surround us. I'd like to see you escape that.

 

SCOTT: Me too.

 

LASHINA: Doctor, if Scott here hasn't returned with the Integer in ten minutes, take Barda's eye. For every minute after that, take a finger.

 

SCOTT: You touch her and I'll kill you.

 

Desaad deliberately pokes Barda in the ribs. Scott looks like he might rip Desaad's throat out then and there.

 

BERNADETH: Nine minutes.

 

Scott heads up the stairs, his eyes on them until he's lost in the shadows. Lashina faces Barda.

 

LASHINA: Now then, 'sir', what are you doing out of uniform?


	14. Chapter 14

INT. HALL – TIMELESS

 

The wall is lined with shadows, like those of Hiroshima victims. Scott steps in front of them, as if joining their ranks. He gathers himself and moves forward. Stepping over footprints of melted boot leather.

 

About ten feet ahead of him, the hall is clean. No one's gotten that far. Thirty-five feet of hallway (with curved lines on the floor at five-foot intervals) after that and we see the Light. Not nice at all. Painful in its intensity. Scott looks back. He looks forward.

 

SCOTT: Okay, Dad. Let's play.

 

He steps up. And the first line on the floor carries a wall in front of him. The hall in front of him isn't a hall at all, it's a line through a series of spinning, concentric circles. Like walking through the inside of a disc on a turntable. And the next time the opening rolls by, Scott jumps inside.

 

INT. FIRST RING – TIMELESS

 

A space five feet in diameter, spinning over a stationary floor. The other side of the opening Scott's in is another spinning wall. He has to walk with the opening and wait for another gap. Tense work; the space he's in is cramped, barely the size of a phone booth. He has no idea what's coming in the next circle, but he's got his eyes peeled on the wall. That's why he misses the floor dropping out from under him. He drops, crying out in fright.

 

INT. TEMPLE – TIMELESS

 

Despite her paralysis, Barda jerks her head to look fearfully down the corridor. She's back in uniform. Lashina 'comforts' her.

 

LASHINA: Worried about the boy, sir? Don't worry. We'll give you something to take your mind off things.

 

Picking up a skull from the pile on the floor, she plants it on Barda's helmet.

 

LASHINA: Bernadeth, how's your aim?

 

BERNADETH: I could hit a fly at thirty feet.

 

LASHINA: Take a few steps back.

 

INT. FIRST RING – TIMELESS

 

Scott has caught himself by throwing his hands out to either side, holding himself in place. He's still dangling halfway out of the gap. New problem. The drop is ending; the floor is up ahead. If Scott stays where he is, it will snip him in half against the back wall.

 

Scott swings himself back and forth. The effort causes one hand to slip and he drops an inch in a heart-stopping moment. Screw it. Scott swings, swings, throws his feet up and jams them against the front left wall. He's jammed in place as the floor sweeps under him.

 

Scott drops into a sit, panting. The back wall catches up and pushes him along over the floor.

 

SCOTT: Okay, Dad, that was fun. Can I save Barda now?

 

The next gap appears. Or half of one. It's only three feet tall.

 

SCOTT: What, did you think I was going to be a midget?

 

He drops into a crouch and rolls into the gap before it disappears.

 

INT. SECOND RING – TIMELESS

 

Scott crawls forward on his hands and knees. The floor starts to slant downward. It leads into a pool of water. The ceiling slants down too. The only way to go on is underwater.

 

Scott pulls his jacket over his head, pinching the sleeves shut. When he's submerged, the jacket keeps an air bubble for him.

 

SCOTT: (imitating Highfather) "Sorry for missing every birthday ever, son, here, have a horrible watery grave."

 

Unfortunately, there's a hole in his jacket. Water trickles in.

 

SCOTT: Thanks, Steel Hand.

 

The water rises with threatening speed. Coming up to his chin, his mouth, his nose.

 

He turns his head upward, holding onto the last few gasps of air. Then that's gone. He swims for it, but the water seems endless. Cut to the end of the pool. We hold on its stillness a moment. Then Scott breaks the surface, mouth open like he wants every molecule of oxygen in the room. The next gap's coming up. Scott's too drained to do more than roll into it.

 

INT. THIRD RING – TIMELESS

 

Scott's still on the floor, coughing up water.

 

SCOTT: If he hates me that much, why couldn't he just make me take piano lessons like a normal parent?

 

INT. TEMPLE – TIMELESS

 

Bernadeth has a heat-knife in hand, the tip glowing red-hot. She's taking careful aim, focusing on the skull perched on Barda's helmet. She throws. Misses, the knife grazing Barda's face before embedding itself in the wall behind her. Match cut to—

 

INT. THIRD RING – TIMELESS

 

Scott plants a palm on the floor, forces himself up. The next gap is another three-footer. Scott tries to crawl in, but this ring is made out of red-hot metal. He jerks his hand back.

 

SCOTT: That does it. I'm not sending a Father's Day card this year.

 

He watches the gap go by, mind whirling. Then he whips off his jacket, rips it into tatters by the bullet hole, and wads them up. The _last_ gap goes by. Scott tosses the jacket in. He waits.

 

SCOTT: (yelling) Barda! This is really easy! Almost done!

 

INT. TEMPLE – TIMELESS

 

Barda smiles, not buying it for a second but loving him all the same.

 

SCOTT: (O.S.) You just hang in there!

 

Bernadeth throws another heat-knife. This one thuds into Barda's shoulder.

 

BERNADETH: Oops.

 

We see her taking strength from the pain. From Scott.

 

INT. THIRD RING – TIMELESS

 

The jacket comes back around. Soaking wet. Scott grabs the strips and wraps hands and knees. Next opening. Scott plunges into the burning ring.

 

INT. FOURTH RING – TIMELESS

 

Steam hisses off his protected hands and knees. The heat is an attack. Sweat. Short breath. By the time he reaches the next gap, the rags have dried and blackened. He whips them off and blows on his smoking hands.

 

The next ring is pitch-black. The light from Scott's ring reveals human bones on the floor. Scott picks one up. It's been severed so cleanly you'd think a laser was involved. He hesitates, letting the gap go by. Bursts into motion, wrapping the cloth from his jacket around one end of the bone. The heated ring comes by again. Scott presses the end of his makeshift torch to the floor. It lights. He waits for the dark ring to come back, and steps in.

 

INT. FIFTH RING – TIMELESS

 

The darkness laps at him like it's hungry in the flickering light. The torch isn't much good; Scott creeps ahead and strains his eyes to see what's coming around. He holds the torch forward and its head falls off, cut away.

 

Scott hurls himself back, against the wall. We, and he, can just make out a razor wire strung in his path. He ducks under as the ring's turn brings him inexorably past it. But we all know there'll be more.

 

Half of the torch is still burning on the ground. Scott strains his eyes, but can't be sure what he sees. He wipes some sweat from his forehead.

 

Light bulb.

 

Taking off his shirt, Scott wrings out some of the water left behind from the aquatic ring and flings it ahead of him. Now he sees it—a line at waist level, drops of water clinging to it. CUT between knives being thrown at Barda and Scott ducking wires. Until Scott sees three wires at once. He frantically throws more water. There are lines from top to bottom, three-inch intervals. No way through.

 

SCOTT: I think it's safe to say Mom's gonna be my favorite parent.

 

He backs up until he's pressed against the wall. The wires emerge from the darkness one by one, shining bright. Scott closes his eyes. Opens them. Decides to see it coming. That's how he sees the light on his right. The gap has come up; revealing something bright in the distance. Scott throws himself at it.

 

INT. INNER CIRCLE – TIMELESS

 

In an instant, the ring has moved on, cutting off the torchlight behind him. The only light comes form up ahead. It's not harsh anymore. It's soft. Beckoning. No more rings, just a seemingly endless black space. Scott is in the core. He walks toward the light. In what seems like too few steps, he's there. It's a glass jar the size of a football. Inside, something like a deep-sea centipede made of red electricity. Scott puts his hand on the glass. The thing puts out electric 'feelers' on its side of the glass.

 

Scott looks back. The rings have lined up and stopped moving, forming a clear path out.


	15. Chapter 15

INT. TEMPLE – TIMELESS

 

Desaad is slowly moving his scalpel to Barda's eye. He lampshades it.

 

DESAAD: I love taking my time on this.

 

A Boomtube opens, the echoes deafening in the confined space. It opens at the far end of the room, and unlike other portals, this one appears to be solid black. That's because it leads into—

  
SCOTT: (stepping out from behind it) A black hole. The most destructive force in the universe. The only thing keeping us alive is Mother Box's goodwill. (holds up Integer) The moment this touches that portal, it'll be sucked into a gravity well the size of Texas. Think your boss'll have fun getting it out? (beat) Let her go.

 

LASHINA: Give us the Integer first.

 

SCOTT: You work for a guy who calls himself Darkseid. I think I'm a little more trustworthy here.

 

STOMPA: The deserter speaks of honor!

 

Mad Harriet laughs. And as they argue, Bernadeth sneaks off. Only Barda notices.

 

SCOTT: Get your boss on the line. I'll take him at his word.

 

LASHINA: And what would you have to say to a god?

 

SCOTT: In polite company? A deal. The Integer for his promise to leave alone me, Barda, and Earth.

 

LASHINA: You would trade the universe for this planet?

 

SCOTT: Yeah, no accounting for taste, is there?

 

Bernadeth reappears, crawling on the wall like a spider. Behind Scott. A heat-knife's in her teeth. Barda tries to warn Scott, but she can't say a word, move a muscle.

 

SCOTT: Or I could lose the Integer and you kill us both. Fine by me. I'd rather die with her than live without her.

 

LASHINA: Very well. Wait one moment. You'll have your answer.

 

Bernadeth takes aim. Scott is oblivious, looking at Barda, reassuring her with his eyes. On her face as she realizes she's going to lose him. A tear runs down the face of Apokolips' number one hardass. Scott sees it.

 

Bernadeth pulls the knife back. Scott turns. She throws.

 

He catches it, dropping the Integer. Without missing a beat, he pivots on his heel and throws it again. Desaad doesn’t catch it. Ouch.

 

SCOTT: You shouldn't have touched her.

 

With a roar of hatred, Bernadeth drops down near Scott. The Furies are moving in; she waves them off.

 

BERNADETH: He's mine!

 

Lashina holds the Furies back, watching the show with relish. Scott glances at the Integer lying on the ground. If he gets it, he's clear.

 

SCOTT: Who was he, your boyfriend?

 

BERNADETH: My brother.

 

SCOTT: I should've guessed, your penises look exactly alike.

  
He dives to the ground, reaching for the Integer. She puts a knife between his fingers. He rolls away as she comes in with another knife. It slashes the ground, throwing up sparks.

 

With the Furies' attention off her, Barda starts to rock back and forth, sheer force of will etched onto every feature.

 

LASHINA: Harriet, go get the Integer. Stompa, cheat.

 

They hurry to comply. Mad Harriet scurrying up the stairs like David Belle.

 

In the fight with Bernadeth, Scott is taking the worst of it. He's dodging, but close calls have cut ribbons in his clothes. He sees Mad Harriet scurrying on all fours for the Integer. He's close enough to give it a kick. Mad Harriet chases after it like a cat after a laser pointer. It bounces off the wall and so does she. It flies past Bernadeth—and she barrels into her. The Integer falls off the platform. Mad Harriet goes after it.

 

Scott takes the opportunity to step in and deliver a sugar-sweet boxing combo to Bernadeth. He has her on the ropes. He's about to deliver the knockout blow when Stompa reaches the top of the stairs, panting. She stamps her foot. The earth shakes. A section of the roof breaks loose and comes down on Scott. He jumps out of the way, but takes a glancing blow. It puts him on the ground. Bernadeth stands over him.

 

Barda forces herself back. She tilts over, into the knife embedded in the wall behind her. It cuts into her skin, her Omega.

 

Bernadeth lunges at Scott, knives flashing. She's loosing a war cry when it's cut off, her body jerking sideways into the wall. She hangs there, pinned by Barda's thrown Mega-Rod.

 

BARDA: Who's the boss now?

 

Now it's on. Lashina busts out her whips and snaps them at Barda, keeping her at bay as our girl looks for an opening. She's strong, but unarmed. Each whipcrack rends scales from her armor. Every time she gets close, Lashina acrobatically slips away.

 

Meanwhile, Scott has Stompa to deal with. He punches her in the gut; it sinks in to the elbow.

 

SCOTT: Oh my god, you're Yo Momma from all those jokes!

 

She bitch-slaps him away. His arm plops out of her. Scott runs for it, down the hall with Stompa fee-fi-fo-fuming after him.

 

Under the raised platform, Mad Harriet has the Integer. She stares at it, overcome, but something about it irritates her like Fido hearing a dog whistle. She stashes it in her clothes.

 

INT. HALL – TIMELESS

 

Scott runs through the shadows. When he gets past them, the mechanism starts again. The gap spins away before he can reach it. Scott pounds his fists on the wall. Behind him, Stompa's closing in. Even the camera shakes as she runs toward him, Jurassic Park on fast-forward. He's about to be squashed when the gap comes back around. Scott hurls himself through it. So does Stompa, but she gets wedged on the wall. Scott backs away as she forces herself in. Nearly smothering him already, she wraps two meaty fingers around his throat to pick him up.

  
STOMPA: I'm gonna enjoy picking you out of my toes.

 

Scott picks his foot up, bracing them against one side, his back against the other.

 

SCOTT: The only thing you're going to be picking is… crap, I got nothing.

  
The floor disappears under them. Stompa drops, now holding onto Scott for her life.

 

SCOTT: Wait, I got one. When you get to hell, tell the Devil you're ordering off the low-carb menu.

 

He kicks Stompa loose. Gravity yanks her down with a vengeance.

 

INT. TEMPLE – TIMELESS

 

Barda and Lashina fight their way up the stairs. Lashina's misses carve out sections of the steps. Lashina notices. Higher, she whips down to cut off the lower stairs with Barda on them. They crumble under Barda, who makes a last-second jump to the top. Lashina whips her across the back as she lands. Barda cries out!

 

LASHINA: Heh. No wonder that chicklet of yours was so weak. Like mother, like daughter.

 

Screaming, Barda takes a swipe at Lashina, but she dances back out of the way. Her whips unfurl again, but this time Barda catches the blow, letting it wrap around her forearm. She pulls Lashina in and knocks her for a loop with her other hand.

 

BARDA: Her name was Auralie.

 

Deadly cold, Barda swings Lashina around by her own whip and slams her down on the platform. Lashina spits blood. Barda puts a boot to her throat.

 

LASHINA: Mercy. Please. Show mercy.

 

Breathing hard, Barda realizes Scott's emerged from the corridor. He's watching her. Saying nothing. Slowly, deliberately, Barda takes her foot off Lashina's throat.

 

BARDA: You want to be me? Go ahead. Enjoy it. I didn't.

 

She toes Lashina toward the stairs. Lashina looks at Barda, exhaling in relief.

 

LASHINA: (sincere) I'm not going to be you, Barda. (beat) I'm going to be _strong._

Lightning-fast, she sends a whip Scott's way. It hits him with an electric shock. He's floored. Bard automatically takes a step toward him, giving Lashina time to hook a whip on her helmet and crash her to the ground. A series of whipcracks bounce Barda's head off the ground. She tries to get up, but a savage kick from Lashina puts her down for good.

 

Both on the ground, Scott and Barda share a look. Talking without words.

 

Lashina snares Scott's throat with her second whip. It automatically constricts, throttling him.

 

LASHINA: Never done two at once before.

 

SCOTT: That's not what I heard.

 

Annoyed, Lashina gives him a jolt. He grins and bears it.

 

SCOTT: Yo, Fifty Shades of Gray, you call that a shock? You couldn't light a lamp!

 

LASHINA: Oh, I get it. You can't live without her. Fine. You can die a whole ten seconds first.

 

She turns the thumb-dial on her glove to the limit.

 

LASHINA: Let's set you free, Scott.

 

Click. Barda had just unstrapped her helmet. Lashina turns just in time to see Barda pitch it into the black hole. The moment it hits, it's sucked in, pulling the whip taut behind it. Lashina is yanked off her feet. Into the portal. Scott is pulled along by the throat, but Barda steps on the whip dragging him and bends to undo it.

 

LASHINA: Wait!

 

She pulls out the photo-cube of Auralie.

 

LASHINA: Think! What would she want you to do?

 

Barda takes the cube back.

 

BARDA: Why don't you ask her?

 

Barda rips the whip in half. Lashina is vacuumed up before she has a chance to scream. They watch her spaghetti into nothing. A pregnant pause.

 

BARDA: I did try to be nice there.

 

SCOTT: Yeah, screw her. (beat) I look badass with all this battle damage, right?

 

BARDA: Oh, definitely.

  
SCOTT: Good. You always look badass. I need all the help I can get.

 

BARDA: I suppose now's a bad time to tell you your shirt's inside-out?

 

He laughs. She smiles. Then laughs.

 

BARDA: They're going to execute Oberon in twenty minutes.

 

SCOTT: Plenty of time. No rush. Stop and smell the roses.

 

He sits down to catch his breath.

 

BARDA: How else?

 

SCOTT: Wha?

 

BARDA: How else do I look besides 'badass'?

 

SCOTT: Barda… you're beautiful. Hasn't anyone ever told you that?

 

BARDA: No.

 

SCOTT: …God, did we ever start off on the wrong foot.

 

BARDA: (uncomfortably) Tell me, how'd you get Mad Harriet?

 

SCOTT: I thought you got her.

 

Suddenly Mad Harriet is dropping between them, split-kicking both to the ground. Barda comes up in a roll, but Mad Harriet jumps on her back and sinks teeth into Barda's neck. Barda spins around, trying it dislodge her, but Mad Harriet is locked on like a pitbull. As Barda flails, a lock of Mad Harriet's hair hits the Boomtube. Both of them are reeled in, Barda standing against it. Mad Harriet clawing at her face and armor.

 

Scott recovers from the hit he took, seeing the Mother Box on the floor nearby. He hands-and-knees right to it and tries to shut the Boomtube off, but his vision is bleary, his hands shaking. He looks over and sees that Mad Harriet has been pulled head and shoulders through the portal, with Barda barely outside it.

 

SCOTT: Darkseid's balls!

 

He smashes the Mother Box, closing the portal with Mad Harriet inside. We get a PG-13 glimpse of Mad Harriet's exposed spine before she slumps to the ground, dead.

 

BARDA: I told her she should put her back into her work.

 

SCOTT: That everyone?

 

BARDA: Yeah.

 

SCOTT: Good.

 

He nearly collapses, but Barda catches him and lets him lean against her. Her arm around his shoulders.

 

SCOTT: So, where were we?

 

BARDA: I thought I'd lost you.

 

SCOTT: We're still on that? You haven't.

 

He turns. She grabs his hand. Squeezes it.

 

BARDA: I thought I'd lost you and I tried to think of what to do next. Hurt them, kill them, but after that I can't imagine a future. Just like after Auralie died. Just like after Bertha. But when I saw you again, I could see all the things we could do together. You're my future. I don't want one without you.

  
SCOTT: I couldn't think about losing you. I'm not that strong.

 

Barda brings his arm up to smell his wrist. Just taking in the smell of him. For a moment, they're the only two people in the world. Then we hear boots stomping in the thousands. Storming down the stairs.

 

Scott and Barda hold the beat until the last possible moment, then flee into the corridor, lasers flying overhead.

 

There are recesses on either side of the hall, but each is only big enough for one to use as cover. They split up just as a flood of gunfire comes down the middle of the hall. Separating them.

 

SCOTT: You have a plan?

 

BARDA: We could always die at each others' side.

 

SCOTT: Me neither.

 

The gunfire stops. In the smoky quiet—

 

PARADEMON: Scott Free! Big Barda! Surrender the Integer and your deaths will be painless! Resist and suffer! We have allotted you thirty seconds for acceptance!

 

SCOTT: We can't let them have it.

 

BARDA: You broke our only black hole.

 

SCOTT: There's another way… I'm not from Apokolips. I'm not from New Genesis. But I know where I belong now.

 

He crosses the hall. Kisses her. It takes a moment for her to identify what just happened.

 

BARDA: Kissing, right?

 

SCOTT: No. Goodbye.

 

He smashes the capsule on the wall.

  
SCOTT: For Auralie.

 

He presses the jagged end into his chest. The Integer burrows into him like an insect. Scott's eyes flash red. Then he's bent backward by an invisible force, body in rictus like he's being electrocuted. As Barda watches in horror, Scott is drawn so far back it seems like he might break in half.

 

The Parademons march into the hall, filling it up. Each of them has a weapon aimed at Barda. All her attention is on Scott.

 

SCOTT: I think I can control it.

 

He's cut loose, dropping limply to the ground. Bard grabs him up. She shields him as the head Parademon speaks.

 

PARADEMON: Three, two, one…

 

SCOTT: No.

 

He holds up his hand. The Parademons freeze, fingers on the trigger but still as statues. Standing, Scott makes a gesture. The Parademons part like the Red Sea, jamming themselves out of Scott's way.

 

SCOTT: I've got new orders for you, boys. Suicide mission.

 

The Parademons direct their rifles under their chins like they're doing a drill. Without looking at Barda, Scott takes her by the wrist and pulls her after him. She winces. His grip hurts. They walk between the Parademons.

 

SCOTT: Barda, I give you your revenge. Give me a fair price for Auralie and that much of Apokolips will die. The rest will serve us. I'll make them good. Like I made you good.

 

BARDA: You didn't make me anything, I chose.

 

SCOTT: Wouldn't it be easier if you didn't have to? (pre-lap) Kneel.


	16. Chapter 16

INT. TEMPLE – TIMELESS

 

The Parademons in the temple prostate themselves, letting Scott and Barda walk on their backs.

 

SCOTT: I could give you your revenge. I'd slaughter every servant of Darkseid for you. I'd give you an ocean of their blood to bathe in. Eternal glory is yours for the asking.

 

The Integer is aging him like an illness. His skin turns gray, cracking at the crow's feet of his red-tinted eyes.

 

BARDA: Stop.

 

Scott pauses, surprised, an expression of the old Scott Free on his face—before he darkens.

 

SCOTT: Stop? On the verge of triumph?

 

BARDA: This isn't you.

 

SCOTT: Of course it is. Me as I should be. Strong. Powerful. A warrior. Don't pretend you don't like me better this way.

 

Barda brushes some hair out of his eyes. It falls away in her hands. She's losing him and it drives a stake through her heart.

 

BARDA: I could never like you like this, because you're not my Scott. Scott got excited about magic tricks. He watched the sunrise with me.

 

SCOTT: I can _make_ the sun rise.

  
BARDA: And he never ever tried to change me. He just wanted me to be happy. And that's all I could ask of you.

 

SCOTT: I am making you happy! I'm giving you what you want!

 

BARDA: I don't want this, I want… You made me happy. Not a warlord. Not a conqueror. Just you. Some chump from New Genesis. (beat) Come back. Stay with me.

 

She touches his cheek. The eye closest to her hand turns normal.

 

SCOTT: Barda…

 

She clasps his face in both her hands. The red fades from his other eye. She realizes it's her touch. Simple human contact.

 

And she embraces him. The color comes back to his cheeks. The Integer resists, sending energy coursing through him. It burns Barda; she holds on. Until finally, all the power is forced up, into Scott's head. For a moment, he's a horrifying deathshead, red-eyed, _roaring._ Then he's expelling a foul stream of red smoke from his mouth, _screaming it out_ to dissipate harmlessly. And he collapses in Barda's arms. Free.

 

BARDA: Scott… my Scott.

 

Without the Integer, the Parademons come to their senses. In a heartbeat, there are a hundred rifles pointed at Scott and Barda from every direction. Barda's hand twitches closer to her Mega-Rod.

 

SCOTT: Don't. We're surrendering.

 

BARDA: I've never surrendered in my life.

 

SCOTT: Trust me. I have a plan.

 

BARDA: If it's to die in each others' arms, that's my plan. I don't want you taking credit for it.

 

EXT. JUNGLE – DAY

 

Scott and Barda are forced to their knees, hands bound. The army surrounds them. A fang-ship has landed in front of them, towering overhead like a cliff. A ramp lowers, the end just a few feet from them. We hear a sound of thunder. It takes us a moment to realize it's footsteps. At the top of the stairs, in the shadows, a pair of glowing red eyes appear. Like Scott's, but larger, the red taking up the irises as well as the pupils. The thunder gets louder, black boots the size of elephant feet coming down the ramp.

 

Gray skin. Black uniform. A body twisted and muscled out of all proportion. What Scott might've become, if not for Barda. This is DARKSEID.

 

DARKSEID: Do you know me?

  
SCOTT: I know who you are.

 

DARKSEID: No, you do not. You moan and wail, seeking revelation, but I am the revelation. The force at the core of all things. When you cry out in deepest slumber, it is Darkseid you have dreamed of.

 

He stops before them. Seems to dwarf them even more than the ship.

 

DARKSEID: And I have knowledge of you. Scott Free. The renegade. The New Genesisian. The Apokoliptian. You have damaged my holdings, killed my Furies, and stolen my Integer.

 

SCOTT: You started it.

 

DARKSEID: And you. Barda. The soldier who forgot her place.

 

BARDA: I know my place. I didn't before. I do now.

  
DARKSEID: You have that which is mine. Free it from your unworthiness. Restore the Integer to me.

 

SCOTT: I destroyed it.

 

DARKSEID: You lie.

 

SCOTT: Can you feel it? Anywhere? Like water to a fish, right? But you can't catch a whiff of it. (beat) Maybe it's hiding. Did you check between the seat cushions?

 

Darkseid grabs Scott by the throat and hoists him off the ground.

 

DARKSEID: You will be opened to the marrow!

 

BARDA: Put him down or I'll send you back to Apokolips as the pile of rocks you are!

 

SCOTT: I'd do as the lady says.

 

DARKSEID: And what possible reason could there be for obeying your whore?

 

SCOTT: Twenty years ago, you took the son of the Highfather from his home. He's had twenty years to plan his revenge. You just broke the treaty. And without the Integer, there's nothing to stop a portal from forming. And you? You're between the man and his son. Bad place to be.

 

Boom, boom, boom. Everyone but Scott looks around. It's like a hundred fireworks being launched. Then the portals open and the New Genesis _light-ships_ come through. The shadows of the fang-ships overhead are chased away. It's like they're in the middle of a constellation of stars.

 

Darkseid drops Scott. And the light speaks.

  
VOICE: You are violating the covenant. Withdraw or be destroyed.

 

Darkseid watches Scott like a hawk.

 

DARKSEID: Nothing has changed. Anti-life remains, as powerful as ever, and I will have it if I must build a road of your—

 

Scott turns and walks off.

 

SCOTT: Whatevs. Barda, you coming?

 

BARDA: In a moment. (to Darkseid) I hereby tender my resignation from your service.

 

And she _whallops him_ with the granddaddy of all punches. Sends him staggering, actually losing his footing.

 

BARDA: And I'm keeping the uniform.

  
Darkseid stands there. After a moment, his face cracks.

 

SCOTT: Ya know, you could've started an interstellar war just now.

 

BARDA: It was worth it.

 

EXT. JUNGLE – LATER

 

After the dust has settled. New Genesis technicians, wielding surpassingly weird technology, are scanning the ruins and doing who knows what else. Guards are securing the perimeter. Even otherworldly newsmen seem to be reporting on current events. Scott and Barda sit off to the side, bandaged and sweetly oblivious to all the chaos.

 

Barda notices Scott staring at her, helmet off, hair blowing in the wind.

 

BARDA: What?

 

SCOTT: Thanks for bringing me along.

 

BARDA: The escape? You slowed me down. (beat) But you can slow me down anytime.

 

A lieutenant in the New Genesis army, LIGHTRAY, approaches Scott, saluting him smartly.

 

LIGHTRAY: We've detected no trace of the Anti-Life Equation. With your permission, we'll now demolish the containment structure to keep it from being a danger to anyone else.

 

SCOTT: Hear that, Barda? Big explosion. This must be your lucky day.

 

LIGHTRAY: Sir, may we channel the destiny-force at destructo-caliber?

 

SCOTT: Huh? Oh yeah. Knock yourself out. But I think you have me confused with someone else. I'm not really... anybody.

 

LIGHTRAY: You are high prince of New Genesis, heir to the throne and destroyer of the Anti-Life Equation. Your word is law.

 

SCOTT: (stunned) Oh. That's nice.

 

With a deep bow, Lightray departs. Scott takes a deep breath. Adjusts his half-tucked shirt.

 

BARDA: (amused) Your majesty.

 

SCOTT: Don't start. (then) Hey, are you okay?

 

BARDA: Why wouldn't I be?

 

SCOTT: You look... sad.

 

BARDA: Well, you're always looking at me.

 

SCOTT: Sorry.

 

BARDA: It's nice.

 

She gets up. We think she's going to walk off, but she doesn't. She sits down next to him. When Barda speaks next, it's low. The softest we've ever heard her.

 

BARDA: You asked me who Auralie was… She was my baby. (beat) A friend of mine was uninhibited. She had a child. And when she died, I had a child. I should've given her up to the orphanages, but I never did. I just—kept her. She's dead now. The only good thing about me.

 

Barda takes out the cube. Faces it for the first time. Auralie. She loses herself in the sight.

 

SCOTT: You raised her. Whatever good you found in Auralie, it came from you.

 

BARDA: I'm glad that you have a home now. You'll be safe while I do what I have to.

 

SCOTT: Which is?

 

BARDA: More blood. More vengeance. No rest until all of Apokolips has felt my pain.

 

SCOTT: And that's what Auralie would want?

 

BARDA: What else?

 

SCOTT: I think she'd want you to be happy… like I do.

 

Boomtubes, the blasts like bell-chimes ending a day. Heralds come through, blowing elaborate horns, followed by flag-bearers and Royal Guards. Barda wipes her eyes.

 

BARDA: Someone likes to make an entrance.

 

Scott isn't even listening to her. His eyes are locked on the stream of New Genesisians, scanning each face.

 

SCOTT: Could I get a second?

 

It takes Barda a moment to reply.

 

BARDA: Take all the time you need.

 

She watches him go, giving her unbearable longing a moment before wiping it from her face. Then she walks in the opposite direction.

 

Scott is almost run down by the parade. He steps aside, trying to see in, jumping to see over tall guards or under twirling flags. He spots an old man—not dressed auspiciously at all, just threadbare robes and worn sandals--and something clicks in his head. He throws himself into the crowd, shoving and juking until he reaches the old man.

 

SCOTT: This is gonna sound weird—bear with me. But you look a lot like someone who once left a message for me. A relative of mine. So you could be my uncle—second cousin—stepbother...

 

The Old Man just stares. He reaches hesitantly for Scott, who winces back—used to attack. A gentle smile from the Old Man and Scott holds still, letting his face be touched. Hands feel out old scars, new bandages.

 

OLD MAN: Do you remember me?

 

SCOTT: I don't remember anything from before.

 

OLD MAN: (embracing him) You'll make new memories. (over his shoulder) This is my son! Your future king!

 

The entire retinue kneels. Scott is overwhelmed. As well-adjusted as he is by Apokolips standards, he's not ready for this level of emotional openness. He actually looks a bit scared.

 

HIGHFATHER: Did you pass the rings of trial?

 

SCOTT: Oh, yeah, yeah. Those were actually kinda cool.

 

HIGHFATHER: (laughing) There will be feasts, my son. Dancing! Fireworks! Celebration night and day!

 

Over the kneeling ranks, Scott can see Barda's back.

 

SCOTT: Two people.

 

HIGHFATHER: What?

 

SCOTT: Two people. One from Apokolips, one from New Genesis. That's what it took to destroy the Integer. Not a New Genesisian raised on Apokolips.

 

HIGHFATHER: I wouldn't have ever thought an Apokoliptian capable of such a thing.

 

SCOTT: Yeah, why would you? (beat) I think I'm going to stay here a while. Sort some things out. I can't be a prince right now. I'm not even used to being me.

 

HIGHFATHER: You think you can find yourself here? On this primitive world?

 

SCOTT: You should see the sunrises.

 

HIGHFATHER: Son...

 

SCOTT: My name is Scott. Scott Free.

 

They part company, Scott running after Barda. As he goes, he pulls up a kneeling courtier.

 

SCOTT: Stop kneeling, geez.

 

Barda is at the edge of the clearing, staring out into the jungle. A few steps in and she'd disappear. But she doesn't. She looks back.

 

Scott's there.

 

BARDA: You followed me.

 

SCOTT: You looked back.

 

BARDA: You could've gone home.

 

SCOTT: That's not where my home is.

 

He gives her the kind of kiss you wait a whole movie for.

 

BARDA: That wasn't goodbye.

 

SCOTT: No. The other thing.

 

She kisses him this time. In the background, Highfather looks on.

 

HIGHFATHER: I send him down a hellhole for twenty-one years and he comes up with that. Told you he was my son.

 

INT. APARTMENT – LATER

 

Cut to Scott and Barda, apparently still kissing. In a fun inversion, she's seated and he's in her lap as they make out. They're intercepted by Ted and Oberon, moving a couch in. Due to their height difference, it's amusingly slanted.

 

OBERON: Break's not over yet?

 

SCOTT: We were thinking of taking the day off.

 

OBERON: C'mon, Scott. It's moving day and you've got our strongest back all twitterpated.

 

BARDA: So that's what the humans are calling it these days.

 

They set down the couch. Ted plops down on it.

 

TED: Thanks again for paying my rent, guys. First time my landlady's smiled at me since I moved in.

 

SCOTT: Don't mention it. We rented all the apartments.

 

BARDA: Needed room for the weapons cache, training room, swimming pool. Besides which, if someone attacks, we don't want any civilians in the way.

 

TED: What do you mean, attack? Who would attack? We won. Go team!

 

BARDA: Well, Darkseid will probably come up with another plan to take over the galaxy, and he won't forgive Scott the effort.

 

SCOTT: You were the one that punched him.

 

BARDA: Not to mention all the other space despots who might try something. Despero. Mongul.

 

SCOTT: That purple Titan guy. He is such a prick.

 

BARDA: He is!

 

TED: Any of them might try to kill you?

 

BARDA: Yes. I'm sure there'll be a bounty put on us. So, bounty hunters too.

 

TED: Yeah... but my apartment is rent-free?

 

SCOTT: Least we can do.

 

TED: Okay. Cool! I'm gonna go drink!

 

OBERON: Join ya in a second. By the way, kids, ya got a package.

 

He tosses a small cardboard box to Scott.

 

BARDA: Bomb?

 

Oberon backs out of the room. Scott opens it.

 

SCOTT: Not ticking.

 

Inside is the Mother Box, fully repaired. Seeing Scott again, it beeps happily. There's a note on it. “Scott, if you ever need me, I'm a call away. You're not alone anymore. --Highfather.”

 

SCOTT: Barda, could I get a minute?

 

BARDA: Sure. Don't be too long. I'm doing some heavy lifting in the bedroom and I'll need your help.

 

SCOTT: Why do you need me?

 

BARDA: You're what I'll be lifting.

 

SCOTT: Oh. Sex. (beat) I'm not heavy.

 

Scott is left alone with the Mother Box.

 

INT. APARTMENT – HALLWAY – DAY

 

Barda stops. On a hall table is the cube of Auralie. Barda turns it, straightening it, watching the hologram move inside like a living thing. Then she leaves it be and continues on her way. At peace.

 

INT. APARTMENT – DAY

 

Scott rubs at his temples, gathers himself, and clicks a button on the Mother Box.

 

SCOTT: Hey, Dad? You wanna... talk?


End file.
